Interesting that the word “hot” has many positive meanings: “trendy,” as in the latest, greatest fashion or places to go; positive personal looks, as in “you look hot;” and being passionate, enthusiastic, or eager, as in being hot to do something.

It also has a negative connotation to mean that someone is upset or angry – “He’s hot under the collar.” “Don’t bother him; he’s hot right now.” Why? When we are upset, we generally have an increase of blood pressure, which leads to redness and heat. Ah . . . finally, I get to temperature . . .

“Hot” may (to many people) have a negative meaning to describe the incredibly hot weather our country has experienced these past weeks. You may all feel free to pause for laughter here because you know how much I HATE being cold. Haha. So, I refuse to say that I am TOO warm in 95-degree temperatures with over 50 percent humidity, but . . . check out this link to results of Florida heat (http://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=a29b33e9-875b-4472-8f12-1a8386a706ca)

You also know that once I start thinking of a word, I start thinking of the many versions of that word, mostly to help my ESL students understand the nuances of our American English language, but I also like think about words. So, I decided to discuss the following versions of “hot,” including a few “expressions” (of course 😉).)

Thinking that the implication of the word, hot, might be TOO hot for some people, so . . . what about warm? A lot of people are moving to Florida (and Phoenix and Nevada and California) because the temperature there is “warm.”

What about “toasty”? Not hot, but . . . what? I think of toasty as “cozy” warm, like a room with a fire going on a cold winter day. A comfortable warmth.

And then there is “tepid.” Tepid is not warm, but not cold. Nor cool. Certainly not icy, but . . .

And then there is “lukewarm”. Who decided to attach a guy’s name to the word, “warm”, by the way? Poor Luke. What does lukewarm mean? According to Merriam Webster, lukewarm is “moderately warm” (synonym = tepid). That’s why that word is used to describe nouns, as in “She received a lukewarm reception when she was introduced.” Equivalent phrases would be “so-so,” or “meh.” Not hot, not cold. Not “just right” (per Cinderella trying the bears’ porridge). If you were graphing this word on a temperature scale, it would be just slightly to the hot side.

Our language can be so complicated. But I think that we all would agree that the weather over these past several weeks has not been tepid, warm, or toasty, but it has been HOT! ☺

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