Did you know that the phrase “Hot Mess” comes from old jazz slang? Popularized recently by Christian Siriano on Project Runway, the phrase is most commonly used in Baltimore.

It dates back to as early as the ’30s, with fellow Baltimore native Cab Calloway publishing the following definition in his New Cab Calloway’s Hepsters Dictionary: Language of Jive:

Mess (n.) — something good. Ex., “That last drink was a mess.”

Funny that old hepster slang has made its way into new hipster slang. Lingustic power!