# ass over tea kettle **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103 "2016-04-25T17:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/1 "2016-04-25T17:33:46Z")
Hello Everyone, When a person takes a hard fall I’ve heard others describe it as falling ass over tea kettle. What does a tea kettle have to do with it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/2 "2016-04-25T17:45:14Z")
It’s a variant of “head over heels.” “Teakettle” is just being used as a colorful analogy for head. Here’s a [discussion of the history of the phrase](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/186151/origin-of-tail-over-teakettle)and variants, such as “tail over teakettle.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/3 "2016-04-25T20:03:20Z")
It may derive from the Britishism “Arse over tip.” (One’s tip is one’s top – head.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/4 "2016-04-25T20:11:28Z")
The term is ‘arse over tit’ (teakettle being a partial bowdlerism, I guess) ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/5 "2016-04-25T20:54:41Z")
I always just took the phrase to conjure up the image of a person walking with a teakettle in hand (perhaps to serve tea to a table), then tripping and taking a spill in which their posterior ends up in a higher position than the teakettle. Maybe I’m too much of a literalist. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/6 "2016-04-25T20:59:20Z")
My mother always said “Arse over elbow”. It didn’t really make sense to me. Later on I heard it as “Arse over bollocks,” which makes more sense. Why “Arse” was acceptable but “bollocks” not, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/7 "2016-04-26T04:30:29Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The term is ‘arse over tit’ (teakettle being a partial bowdlerism, I guess) May be regional differences; I’ve heard (and seen) tip, but had never (until your post) seen tit. I’ve also seen the cleaner version, “Base over tip.” (I got that one from a Carl Giles cartoon.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ass-over-tea-kettle/753103/8 "2016-04-26T06:55:19Z")
Interesting. Google NGrams appears to show an earlier/larger start for ‘arse over tip’, with ‘arse over tit’ coming in later and still not quite catching up. I did not expect that.