# First use of calling someone "hot"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468 "2003-07-05T23:55:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/1 "2003-07-05T23:55:47Z")

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When did the term “hot,” meaning sexually attractive, become widely used?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/2 "2003-07-06T00:10:03Z")

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A WAG theory: “hot” in that sense is a shortened version of “hot to trot.” If so, it comes from the middle of the last century.

[Phrase finder discussion.](http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/21/messages/870.html)

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**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/3 "2003-07-06T01:31:07Z")

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Calling someone “hot” originated with the first fire-making cannibals.

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**Author:** ![Blonde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Blonde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blonde)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/4 "2003-07-06T03:09:17Z")

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C’mon baby, light my fire!

Body heat explains the origin of “hot”, think about it.  
Walking backwards and slowly away from cannibals…

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/5 "2003-07-06T05:03:49Z")

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Hot, meaning passionate is cited in the OED to around 1500.

The phrase _hot stuff_, indicating that which ignites the passions, is cited to 1889 in a context that indicates that its audience was already familiar with the meaning, making it somewhat older than that.

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/6 "2003-07-06T06:55:49Z")

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Bawdy chanteuse Sophie Tucker (1884-1966) called herself “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas”.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-calling-someone-hot/186468/7 "2003-07-06T14:15:55Z")

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**tom** has it correct.

Chaucer, about 1390, wrote _As hoot he was and lecherous as a sparwe._.