Skip to content

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!

Cold as Balls - Cold as a witches tit

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.