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2024 MLH Magazine Holiday Edition

Mr. Local History Online Magazine – a free magazine with stories about local history and events in New Jersey. Over a dozen great local history stories from our home area of the Somerset Hills in New Jersey.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Balls off the brass monkey cold as balls

Origins of Cold as Balls and Cold as a Witch’s Teet

The phrase “cold as balls” reportedly comes from the contraction of metal on ship’s cannons, causing the iron balls to fall. The expression “cold as a witch’s tit” originated from the belief that witches, portrayed as cold-blooded in the 1600s, had an ‘unholy’ body part feeding familiars or the devil.