A lady rider "hot" on horseback
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Nov 26 11:09:57 UTC 2011
Maybe she was sweating.
JL
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 5:01 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: A lady rider "hot" on horseback
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11/24/2011 04:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>This appears to be the sole 19th C. ex. of "look hot on," acc. to GB.
>>
>>Peculiar.
>
> But by book (OED), there is at least one other 19th c. example, the 1845.
>
> Joel
>
>
>>Peculiar.
>>
>>JL
>>
>>On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > Subject: A lady rider "hot" on horseback
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > What do the experts make of "hot" in a letter of Jane
>> > Austen's? (1805 April 8; see in GBooks "Jane Austen, her Life and
>> > Letters", p. 130.)
>> >
>> > This morning we have been to see Miss Chamberlayne look hot on
>> > horseback. Seven years and four months ago we went to the same
>> > riding-house to see Miss Lefroy's performance! What a different set
>> > are we now moving in!
>> >
>> > Hot, adj. and n. -- possibly:
>> >
>> > "8. Excited ... a. Of a person ... eager, keen"? (In every century
>> > from OE through 2007.)
>> >
>> > "12. Characterized by intensity or energy ... b. Of speed of movement
>> > or action ... rapid, fast"? (Earliest 1809.)
>> >
>> > "12. ... c. colloq. (orig. U.S.) Extremely good ... very skilled,
>> > knowledgeable, or successful. Also with _on_ and a specified subject
>> > or activity."? (Earliest 1845.)
>> >
>> > I vote for the last, and thus an antedating. (And :-) another usage,
>> > like "baseball," taken home from the U.S. to England by Austen.)
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
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>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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