Puke?
Dogshit?
Semen all the walls?
Hmm, is Lindsay a hot mess because she is hot and in a mess, or is it hot because it is a particularly nasty mess?
First place I heard the term was on Clean House, used by Niecy Nash in describing the messy conditions of various houses. I assumed it was a Southernism, or at least a Niecyism.
It’s black slang meaning “really, really ugly, nasty, or disturbing”.
As in, “Did you see that girl’s hair? It was a hot mess!”
Or “That drunk fool at the bar was nothing but a hot mess!”
Personally I like writing it as “hotmess”. Seems to up the “bad” factor when I do that.
You may have to go through a couple of pages before you see a hot mess. They’re well-labeled so you can’t miss 'em.
As above, unless you came across the term in an older military memoir, where a hot mess is just a hot meal. Compare “mess kit” or “mess hall.”
Was someone watching Wife Swap last night? As it was my first encounter with the term as well.
You’ve never heard of a hot mess before? Weird, it’s a pretty common expression everywhere I’ve been. Urban Dictionary has a couple of good explanations.
Yep. And I’m still lost.
To me a hot mess is a state of messiness that took extra effort to achieve.
When you walk outside on a windy day your hair might be a mess. If you have jacked up color and did some damage with a crimping iron, that’s a hot mess. It implies an element of too-muchness to me.
It’s an idiom, so it’s not going to make a huge amount of sense taken literally.
I assumed it was the same in meaning as “a steaming pile of shit,” since it’s not unusual to refer to dog shit as “dog mess.”
Now, shall we address the etymology of “hot tranny mess”?
I always took it as meaning a sexy or attractive person (usually a woman) whose personal life is a mess.
As one of the Urban Dictionary definitions indicates, in fashion it can be a positive thing – someone whose appearance is disheveled in some way, but still looks attractive, for example, hair that is beautiful even though it hasn’t been combed or styled, or clothing and jewelry that is thrown on in casual disarray but comes out looking good.
My wife and I never heard it in Texas (where we were raised) or in California (where we lived for a few years). But here in Indianapolis we hear it frequently, and not just from black people.
Hot mess is a term for some situation or a person that is either beyond repair, or requires intense cleanup…synonymous with the spillage of pancake syrup and grease onto a surface such as cardboard after it has dried.
I assumed it was …
Aw, man. Ninja’d. 
I disagree: writing it like that turns a spondee into a trochee, which doesn’t really work.