cold-as-steel

Updated: July 2, 2026

A stormy threat by a sneering, drunken officer to turn his Canadian artillery on the bloomin' Yanks could be met by a cold-as-steel rejoiner that the British officer would please realize his drunken condition, and take back the sneering threat and come across with a reasonable order or suffer the immediate consequences. And then usually the two could cooperate. Such is a partnership war incident.

Lewis E. Jahns - The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki: Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919