colder than a witch's kiss

Sat Dec 14 23:17:55 UTC 2013

Barry Popik examined the expression for witchy coldness and posted an
entry on his website. Interestingly, the oldest printed version was
“Cold as a witch’s kiss” in 1918.

Entry from November 23, 2013
“Colder than a witch’s tit” (very cold)

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/colder_than_a_witchs_tit_very_cold/

[Begin excerpt]
12 June 1918, Rockford (IL) Register-Gazette, “The Confessions of a
German Deserter,” pg. 9, col. 4:
The inside of a cloud is cold as a witch’s kiss, but it is fun
shooting into them and then suddenly out into the clear sky again.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 2:11 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: colder than a witch's kiss
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here are some other examples of cold knockouts expressed with
> figurative language. (GB dates may be inaccurate):
>
> 1941: knocked him colder than a frozen mackerel
> 1941: If I hadn't ducked he would have knocked me colder than a pop sickle
> 1948: hit my head on a rock, and knocked myself colder than a well
> digger's feet.
> 1950: It knocked me colder than a healthy dog's nose.
> 1951: Any place but Terre Haute he'd have knocked me colder than a
> welldigger's ass.
> 1952: he knocked me colder than a fish.
> 1991: It knocked me colder than a cuckoo,
> 1984: it knocked me colder than a flounder
> 2003: They knocked me colder than a steer with a sledge-hammer.
> 2005: he almost got knocked colder than a cucumber.
> 2007: It hit me above the right ear and knocked me colder than a
> winter's midnight,
> 2010: someone came in behind me and knocked me colder than an icicle in January
>
> Perhaps more than one meaning can be assigned to W Brewer's example.
>
> "It was a blow that knocked me colder than a witch's kiss."
>
> The phrase "witch's kiss" may have been a simple substitute for a
> reference to a witch's breast satisfying 1951 censors as suggested.
> Yet, an alternative analysis stems from the bewitching nature of the
> archetype. The kiss might have been overpowering and intoxicating
> enough to render an individual unconscious. The two interpretations
> may overlay one another to yield a richer meaning. Those 1951 radio
> serial writers were clever.
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 1:09 PM, William Salmon <wnsalmon at d.umn.edu> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       William Salmon <wnsalmon at D.UMN.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: colder than a witch's kiss
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I also grew up hearing colder than a witch's tit, and my first thought here
>> was, as was previously mentioned, that 'kiss' was euphemistic. Also, in
>> south Texas the expression frequently includes 'fourth of July'.
>>
>> It's colder than a witch's tit on the fourth of July.
>>
>> And it can also be hotter:
>>
>> It's hotter than a witch's tit on the fourth of July.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 11:59 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: colder than a witch's kiss
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On Dec 14, 2013, at 9:54 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>
>>> > Isn't this simply a variation on the notion that witches were cold
>>> > overall, had cold blood?  The variation that has I think been
>>> > discussed previously is "witch's tits".  (Perhaps "kiss" is the
>>> > polite version, having some phonological similarity.)
>>> >
>>> > Joel
>>>
>>> Just as Popik > Bobik below.
>>>
>>> The locus classicus, I believe, is "colder than a witch's tit", singular,
>>> so the move to "kiss" at least preserves the singular morphology if not the
>>> phonology.  And I agree that this is indeed a euphemism.
>>>
>>> LH
>>> >
>>> > At 12/14/2013 07:21 AM, W Brewer wrote:
>>> >> Maybe Barry Bopik can deconstruct this one: "It was a blow that knocked
>>> me
>>> >> colder than a witch's kiss." (Harry was hit on the head from behind by a
>>> >> giant Moorish bodyguard wielding a rifle butt.)
>>> >> "The Adventures of Harry Lime" radio broadcast 14 Dec 1951, episode 20
>>> "An
>>> >> Old Moorish Custom"; which episode was also evidently included in a 1952
>>> >> novelization, short story #15.
>>> >>
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