The Jan. 6 Congressional Committee is currently investigating a burning issue: Did former President Donald Trump use a burner phone during the assault on the U.S. Capitol? But I'm more interested in a back-burner issue: Where did the term "burner phone" originate?

For those of you who have never engaged in criminal activity — and I'm hoping there might be a few of you out there — a burner phone is an inexpensive, prepaid mobile phone that you can use one or two times and then discard. This allows you to create a temporary or unidentifiable phone number that can't easily be traced back to you.

These devices are called "burner phones" (or "burners") because they're often destroyed, not by actually burning them, but by flinging them into storm drains, dumpsters or, preferably, the ocean.

The noun "burner," meaning "something that burns," has been around for a long time; think Bunsen burner. But it's not clear just how and why "burner" emerged as an adjective to describe a throwaway phone.

I suspect what lit this match was the old "Mission Impossible" TV show, which aired from 1966 to 1973. As you might recall, each episode began with a tape recorder playing a message describing a secret agent's assignment.

Then the tape would self-destruct by smoking and, presumably, burning, though no actual flames were shown (and no actual tape recorders were harmed).

The editors of the Merriam Webster Dictionary have traced the first known use of the phrase "burner phone" to 1996 when the rapper Kingpin Skinny Pimp referred to "talkin' on the burner phone" in his song "One Life 2 Live."

The popularity of the term was undoubtedly fueled by its frequent use on the HBO crime drama "The Wire," which aired from 2002 to 2008. The following excerpt from one episode (expletives deleted) actually provides a helpful vocabulary lesson:

Kima: What's up with these phones? I've been seeing kids throw them away all day. They got cash like that to waste? They be laying all over, man. Sometimes you find minutes on them, sell them for walking-around money.

Mello: They burners, Kima.

Kima: Burners?

Google's N-gram app, which traces the frequency of words' appearances in print, shows that "burner phone" skyrocketed in use during the early 2010s.

The term has now sparked a range of similar terms for throwaway accounts in other media, e.g., "burner password," "burner email" and "burner app." In fact, this is a "burner column," and it will self-destruct in five seconds. Read fast!

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His new book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: andreas160578 at Pixabay