And it agreed with the editorial cartoon which featured a newsman doing a live report in front of a smouldering building and saying, "And it seems millions of pounds of meaningless tat has been lost to the nation for ever." 2004 May 28, Thomas Sutcliffe, “Why Britart is a burning issue”, in The Independent:
tourist tat
(India, countable) Gunny cloth made from the fibre of the Corchorus olitorius (jute).
And so each morning before daybreak I am up, and having dispatched my luggage on the backs of coolies after much noise and bustle, without which no natives can work, I mount my tat as the sun begins to touch the higher hills, and start on my morning ride of twelve miles. 1879, Val Cameron Prinsep, Glimpses of Imperial India, page 206:
Me and my thugs clock G's, sippin' naughty thangs. Real as these tats on my body, and it's Killuminati. 1999 December 21, “Killuminati” (track 11), in Still I Rise, performed by Tupac and Outlawz:
Now give me my cable, fast food, four-by's, tats, right away I want it now. 1998 November 17, “Americana” (track 22), in Supercharged: Worldwide in '25, performed by The Offspring:
I'm diplomatic playing pen and pad. Rat-a-tat, you're a scaredy-catcause I have a tat put you up like that. You can't stand that cause you've got to scat. 1999 September 14, “I Can't Wait” (track 2), in Nigga Please, performed by Ol' Dirty Bastard:
Some small thing, especially that which is exchanged tit for tat.
The article seems an attempt at tit-for-tat; but there is too little tat, even in Bedouins, to provoke such a maze of tit as is found in “'Bedouins' and Nomads.” 1920, The Creighton Chronicle, page 294:
[...] insecurity, anger engender the excessive retaliation of two tits for a tat that leads not to damping-down but to [escalation]. 1999 May 18, D. Reisman, Conserative Capitalism: The Social Economy, Springer, →ISBN, page 122:
If that was a lot of tit for a little tat it didn't bother the French. In the absence of any firm policy in Paris, the military commanders in Algeria began promoting French settlement. 2012 April 17, Gerald L'Ange, The White Africans: From Colonisation To Liberation, Jonathan Ball Publishers, →ISBN:
At the U.S. planning sessions, it was not uncommon to hear someone say, "Just remember, when you're negotiating tit-for-tat, it's better to concede the occasional small tat to your opponent and keep the big tits for yourself." 2002 May 1, G.H. Spaulding, C-C-Cold War Syndrome Or, Remember, It's Break Ground and Fly into the Wind, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:
"Why don't you two sit out on the porch while I clean up this little tat of dishes," Gram said. Corrie argued for a minute, but Gram shooed her away and reluctantly we found ourselves alone on the porch swing. (Can we date this quote?), Pamela Morsi, Suburban Renewal, Oliver-Heber books:
A little tit for a little tat. He just wanted to get his damned tit so he could be done with the nasty tat. There was an odd shimmer among the shadows, then the outline of Briggs appeared, his crimson eyes glowing like the pits of hell. 2021 June 29, Alexandra Ivy, Guardians of Eternity Bundle 2, Zebra, →ISBN:
“Yeah...and a tiny little tat of a bottle of Grinness on his ankle...” As they rode, a warm-front chased the clouds away and the direct sun and warming air began to melt the snow. 2011 March 20, Thunderhead, The Sacred Clown, Thunderhead, →ISBN, page 475:
Not tit-for-tat, but more like ten tits for every tat. 2006 08, Michael Riggs, Edicts of Ares: 13 Absolute Rules of Warfare, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 112: