Yes, very much so. Eating a curry and saying it's "hot" can equally mean it's very spicy ( phall etc ) or it is physically too hot to eat yet. We tend to say

Yes, very much so. Eating a curry and saying it's "hot" can equally mean it's very spicy ( phall etc ) or it is physically too hot to eat yet. We tend to say "it's hot-hot" for physically too hot or something like "it'll blow your face off" or "this curry is really hot". It's a minefield of ambiguity which a new word could easily solve. It could well be, as you say, it's only recently that hot spices have become mainstream. I grew up in the 1960s & 70s in northern England and as a kid my parents may put some very old pre-ground pepper on the table occasionally. Garlic didn't exist to us. I burst out and enjoy hot, bitter, gnarly flavours.