A term often used by those living in the North-Eastern
United States, where rapidly changing winter weather creates slippery conditions for pedestrians
without warning. Similar to taking a "wicked shitter," going "ass over tea kettle" describes the motion of the body as it somersaults uncontrollably on a driveway or down a set of basement stairs, for example. The tea kettle is valued during cold winter months and is used
metaphorically to assert that something important (along with one's ass) has been damaged in the fall.