Only ever heard the "cold as ...." variety myself. If I ever thought about it, I guess it's down to chill factor on broom sticks.
Don't think it could be from "tit for tat"=hat though Chicken Leg. As a fully paid up gor-blimey-luvva-duck-Landaner I've only ever heard "titfer" as a abbreviation rather than "tit"..... |
I first heard the expression when Peter Cook and Dudley Moor used it in one of their great sketches of the mid-60s. Can't remember the context. " 'It was as black as a witches' tit, your honour,' I said", or somesuch.
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mixing metaphors
"Cold as a witch's tit".
"Black as a witch's cat". :O |
I'm with you on this one, Wensleydale.
Except that more modern interpretations of the "Black as..." phrase often replace 'cat' with a FOUR-letter word that also begins with 'c' and ends in 't'. I've heard an old-school professional photographer refer to 'WC' conditions (i.e. 'Black as a ...') |
Got to be Jurby Range at the dead of night upside down doing some silly loft attack in a howling gale while pis#ing with rain. Very black and definately tits up if you did not recover - not sure where the witch came in but.............
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Black as.....
"Black as a Vampire's Ar*ehole"
Seems to be fairly accurate, like many Australian expressions. :cool: Neppie |
Hooray,a chance to get off PPRunes 'not trying' list!
I've always thought of it as 'cold as....' But another I heard way back in the dark ages when doing the CFS course wasfrom our USAF squadron commander, who referred to an icy runway as 'slippery as owl sh*t'. Never heard it used before or since! Anyone else? |
Originally Posted by Tim Mills
(Post 3010430)
Hooray,a chance to get off PPRunes 'not trying' list!
I've always thought of it as 'cold as....' But another I heard way back in the dark ages when doing the CFS course wasfrom our USAF squadron commander, who referred to an icy runway as 'slippery as owl sh*t'. Never heard it used before or since! Anyone else? |
Originally Posted by threepointonefour
(Post 3007812)
" ... a witches tit "
I once saw one back in '91 during the MAIT phase of the F3 OCU ... the late Guy Woods used to wax lyrical about this mythical 180 x 8/5/4 stern intercept phenomenon. The 'nipple occurred at the 90 to go stage! And it was black. "Flat as a witches tit" is the phrase I know well. "Black as a .............. arsehole" - the missing word can not be used in the traditional saying for fear of having Trevor Philips and the whole of the CRE landing on my head! |
Originally Posted by moggiee
(Post 3012798)
It was never black - it was green on the F3 TVTABs.
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I prefer:
"Dark?....it was like half a yard up a bears bottom!". |
Originally Posted by Tim Mills
(Post 3010430)
Hooray,a chance to get off PPRunes 'not trying' list!
I've always thought of it as 'cold as....' But another I heard way back in the dark ages when doing the CFS course wasfrom our USAF squadron commander, who referred to an icy runway as 'slippery as owl sh*t'. Never heard it used before or since! Anyone else? I never had an opportunity to use it myself though subsequently... sv |
Definitely Mixed Metaphors...
Black as Pitch. As Cold as a Witches Tit. (as for a Witches tit being cold, no one was ever going to get the warmth of the - "Milk of human kindness" - from a witches tit.) I rest my case. |
Thanks sidevalve. I've always thought it was probably an American expression, and your version is certainly better. I really only remember the reference to owl, excrement and slippery, and since I only flew with the chap once, in November 1957, have a bit of an excuse for not quite getting it right!
I would imagine there would be more occasion to use it at Keflavik, and now and again at Little Rissington, than in this neck of the woods just now! |
An old (Irish) instructor of mine used to comment after a particularly smooth landing (his) 'as smooth as a cat p1ssing on glass'. Never heard it before or since.
I like the way Google is advertising witches hats on this thread - no tits available? |
There is also the witches tit which often refers to the nozzle/diffuser at the rear of the final turbine [see image]
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question...t/turbojet.jpg Taken from Aerospaceweb. |
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