A phrase has started to be used somewhat frequently over the past few years: "hot mess".
I have heard it in professional journalism (albeit, admittedly, mostly entertainment and/or gossip journalism).
There seems to be some confusion over what it means, though. Here are some of the varying commonly held definitions:
- A person who is seemingly emotionally or mentally unbalanced who yet remains alluring, esp. one whose unbalance derives from social debauchery (excessive partying)
- Or one such who does not remain alluring
- A person who is disheveled who yet remains alluring
- Or one such who does not remain alluring
- An item that is dizzyingly chaotic in appearance
- A situation or incidence that is extraordinarily bad
Is this an older phrase that has gained new life, or has it come into being in the last decade? If the latter, what was the original definition?