Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Word of the Week, Man Phrase Edition 3

I have to say, I'm a lot more comfortable using man phrases since I began chronicling their meanings in my word of the week category.  One of the reasons I have avoided using man terms is because I've been unsure what boundaries they require.  When is it appropriate to say boo-yah!, for instance?

Here is another man term that has had me scratching my head for a little bit.

a hot mess


Okay...just so you know...this has nothing to do with temperature.  Here's the definition that I have concluded from contextual usage...

hot mess: n. a confused situation, something that is abnormally cluttered, a person who is overwhelmed by emotion.


Isn't it efficient of men to use one term for so many meanings?  We women would probably have seventeen separate terms for these definitions!

Here are my sample sentences:

The young girl's not-so-subtle evasion tactics led the Mom to assume the room was, as she suspected, a hot mess. (Again, an instance taken from real life).


The perfect storm of chocolate abstinence, lack of sleep, and football viewing caused the young mother's emotions to erupt until her entire family saw that she was indeed a hot mess.


The woeful mismanagement of Mr. Ling caused Randy and his unfortunate coworkers to scratch their heads in wonder at the hot mess the company had become.  (This too has been taken from real life, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent...and the guilty!)

4 comments:

  1. Mr. Ling...now that's a good one! :)

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  2. This is hillarious - beacause I frequently use the phrase "hot mess" . . . to mean all these varried things. Funny thing though, I picked it up from my BROTHER!!!!!!!!

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  3. The young (and strikingly beautiful) mother walked in the small room overflowing with excited boys. She took in the scene before her; one boy jumping up and down in hysterics caused by a smashed figer, one toddler throwing food on the floor while bubbling over with laughter and one boy loudly directing the flights of five paper airplanes. She muttered under her breath "What a hot mess." while attempting to restore order to the mayhem. (See, I too can draw from real life . . .)

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  4. Maybe it's the ghetto in me, but I always use this phrase to describe physical apearance as in, " she looked a hot mess" Usually in reference to myself, especially lately. "I'm fittin' to get my hair did 'cause all these bay-bays(children) got me lookin' a hot mess. With all this carryin' on I ain't even got time to run a comb through! "

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