1) I've friend who act as volunteer fire fighters who would take issue with your overall belief. Yes, some are overcome by smoke and asphyxia, but other suffer excruciating suffocation from toxic fumes and super-heated air before they expire; others even get a dash of crispy critter if the flames move through too quickly, but I digress.
I've often heard the epithet used as "die BY fire," and in the nineteenth century, in America, it carried connotations of public burnings and lynchings. Since most "witch burnings" in the colonies were actually hangings and the stray "pressing," our use of burning has now-forgotten (by many) racial overtones.
So, no, I don't really accept your definition of it as an ironic curse. But it does beat you moaning about squats...maybe if you tried those over a little bonfire?
no subject
I've often heard the epithet used as "die BY fire," and in the nineteenth century, in America, it carried connotations of public burnings and lynchings. Since most "witch burnings" in the colonies were actually hangings and the stray "pressing," our use of burning has now-forgotten (by many) racial overtones.
So, no, I don't really accept your definition of it as an ironic curse. But it does beat you moaning about squats...maybe if you tried those over a little bonfire?