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Hot as blue blazes

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on February 01, 2011 at 22:56

In Reply to: Hot as blue blazes posted by Lorraine on January 27, 2011 at 19:41:

: Where does the expression "hot as blue blazes" originate?

This phrase ‘blue blazes’ dates from the early 19th century at least. ‘Blazes’ here is a euphemism for ‘hell’, a word you really couldn’t use in polite society till relatively recently – as in ‘it’s all gone to blazes’. ‘Blue’ *may* have been a euphemism for ‘bloody’ – something you also couldn’t say in the 19th and early 20th century – but it might simply be there for the alliterative value. (VSD)

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