Considering that "Hairy Situations" is going to be a modular creation, I thought it might be best to identify what the through line is - a hairy situation. With the help of Word Detective [Check out: http://www.word-detective.com/052206B.html] we now have this very brief introduction to the history of the expression and the connotations of "hair".

It's no secret that our species has a contradictory attitude toward hair. On the one hand, we worship out own (as long as it's on top of our heads) with a ferocity that often seems demented, even though it plays no real role in our physical well-being. You'll notice, for example, that there's no Posture Club for Men out there.

Perhaps because human evolution entailed losing a large share of our body hair while some fairly scary animals retained theirs, however, the label of "hairy" has long been used as shorthand for a variety of traits deemed undesirable. In the 19th century, "hairy at the heels" meant "deficient in breeding," and "hairy" has also been slang for "old," "out of date," "crude," "clumsy," "wild" (in a negative sense), "unusual" and "weird." Among students in the 19th century, "hairy" was slang for "difficult" or "demanding," a use echoed in 20th century military slang, where a "hairy mission" during World War II was an extremely dangerous one. This is the same "hairy" we use in speaking of a "hairy situation" today. An extension of the "hairy equals wild or dangerous" usage, it carries the sense of something very unpredictable and fraught with the potential for disaster.

But our attitude toward hair is ambiguous even in our slang, so "hairy" has also been used to mean "large or impressive," "shrewd or clever" and, of course, "virile," with the corollary attributes of "brave" and "tough," perhaps even tough enough to make it through a "bad hair day."