[Ads-l] hot snakes

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Hot" has long been a synonym for "radioactive" - but I guess the
snakes came first.

JL

On Tue, Aug 18, 2026 at 9:39 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Jeff Prucher wrote:
> >  The 1951 and 1963 citations seem to have an additional
> > refinement -- snakes of a venomous species that haven't
> > had their venom glands removed.
>
> Yes, those citations display a more sophisticated notion of poisonous.
>
> While searching I came across some entertaining citations. In November
> 1962 the term hot snake was applied to a poisonous and radioactive
> snake.
>
> Before this article appeared, Peter Parker was famously bitten by a
> poisonous and radioactive spider in the August 1962 issue of Amazing
> Fantasy.
>
> Date: November 25, 1962
> Newspaper: The State Journal Register
> Newspaper Location: Springfield, Illinois
> Section: Family Weekly
> Article: I Was Bitten by a King Cobra — and Lived
> Author: William E. Haast (Director of Miami Serpentarium)
> Quote Page 6, Column 4
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/illinois-state-register-atomic/204125377/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Right now, I am looking forward to a new atomic-age study involving
> snake venoms. A nationally known research foundation wants me to make
> cobras radioactive and then extract their venom. If one of these "hot"
> snakes bites me, I might become a new kind of human guinea pig. It
> should be interesting.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Sometimes a "hot snake" was a stolen snake or a high-temperature snake.
>
> Garson
>
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