the.com/hothead
Someone whose thermostat for anger is permanently set to broil.
means A person who gets angry quickly and acts rashly or impulsively when provoked.
from A straightforward compound of 'hot' and 'head,' built on the ancient metaphor linking heat to anger and passion — we still say tempers 'flare,' blood 'boils,' and people 'burn with rage.' The word has been in use since at least the 1600s, riding on the same heat-equals-emotion logic found across many languages, long before anyone understood a thing about actual body temperature.
- origin era
- temper linked to literal body heat since 1600s
- biology myth
- anger does not actually raise core temperature
- classic trigger
- minor inconvenience, major eruption
- workplace label
- usually means talented but exhausting