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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
From Gore Vidal's "Burr", page 380:
Muffled against the arctic air, I walked through the darkening grey streets, trying not to slip on frozen cobbles, to avoid snow bitches, to stay out of the path of the sleighs with their ominous thin tinkle and clatter of bells, and their terrifying propensity to slide wildly out of control, smashing the legs of horses - and of the poor who like myself walk.
So, what is a snow bitch?
Bingley
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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I don't know, but I'm glad you're there. (here?)
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addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
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Might this be a typo for "snow ditches"? Not that it makes any more sense, as snow ditches would simply be ditches. 
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Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Bing: That's what I say. 730 hits but no defs. Must be very new term
dalehileman
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Can't be that new, the book was written in the 1970s.
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Bing: To me at age 75, anything from 1970 is new
Jackie: Thank you for that link
dalehileman
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
But would this exist on the streets of New York (in the 1830s)? And why would it be hazardous unless the snow was very tightly packed?
Bingley
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
I'm not positive I've understood what these bitches are exactly, but snow in cities poses many risks. First off, if the sun shines during the day and drips onto a smaller mound below eaves and freezes it can be dangerously slippery. I thinking wrists and coccyx. If only a slight slope is created then it can give you the impression that it's safe to step on (especially if fresh snow covers ice) whereas in reality it is like being on roller skates - that give sideways too. Another obvious danger is that walking where you find mounds can indicate that snow and ice have fallen there from a greater height. In Alpine areas one generally leans long wooden sticks (snow level posts) against the walls of buildings to warn pedestrians or even cordon off areas. People are injured and even killed every year from falling ice. Course, it's better than being hit by something like this: n-tv.de/673662.html
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
So I conclude from your remarks and Jackie's revealing link, as well as input from other quarters, that a snow bitch is just about any kind of formation from dripping water
If it's a play on "snowman," then isn't the expr sexist
dalehileman
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