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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series inaugurated by JLee with his original Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a phrase adheres to a certain rule, then I call it a Breech Phrase™.

Use the examples below to find the rule.

BREECH PHRASES NOT BREECH PHRASES
UNFIT CROWD INEPT HORDE
SLUG DRIP WORM OOZE
DAWN VEIL DUSK MASK
COCKY OASES BRASH FONTS
HAD AXE GOT SAW
HIDE POTS BURY PANS
ONCE CALM THEN COOL
WET DOG DRY CAT
DUMB PAIR MUTE TEAM
BOXED TUNER CASED GIZMO
DATE TIPS GIRL HINT
NEW AIR OLD GAS
BIRD MARK CROW SCAR
HER IVY HIS GEM
WOMB PACK VOID LOAD
DRY BUG WET FLY
LIMP HEAD HARD FOOT
ONYX NODE INKY SITE
LAST BAIT ONLY LURE

In case you want it in CSV:

BREECH PHRASES, NOT BREECH PHRASES
UNFIT CROWD, INEPT HORDE
SLUG DRIP, WORM OOZE
DAWN VEIL, DUSK MASK
COCKY OASES, BRASH FONTS
HAD AXE, GOT SAW
HIDE POTS, BURY PANS
ONCE CALM, THEN COOL
WET DOG, DRY CAT
DUMB PAIR, MUTE TEAM
BOXED TUNER, CASED GIZMO
DATE TIPS, GIRL HINT
NEW AIR, OLD GAS
BIRD MARK, CROW SCAR
HER IVY, HIS GEM
WOMB PACK, VOID LOAD
DRY BUG, WET FLY
LIMP HEAD, HARD FOOT
ONYX NODE, INKY SITE
LAST BAIT, ONLY LURE

Bonus Puzzle:

If a Breech Phrase™ possesses a certain property, then I call it a Twin Breech Phrase™. What is a Twin Breech Phrase™ and how many examples of it can you give?

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Is the cipher tag really applicable? $\endgroup$
    – CodeNewbie
    Nov 3, 2016 at 5:27
  • $\begingroup$ Isn't it? The property the phrases possess involves a cipher... $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Nov 3, 2016 at 12:00
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    $\begingroup$ Not to toot my own horn, but Riven Words™ are based on a very similar concept :) $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Nov 3, 2016 at 17:53
  • $\begingroup$ @whrrgarbl Those are phrases, though. $\endgroup$
    – EKons
    Nov 3, 2016 at 18:05
  • $\begingroup$ @ΈρικΚωνσταντόπουλος Of course, I didn't mean to suggest they were exact duplicates. I just noticed that they are based on similar operations. $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Nov 3, 2016 at 18:35

1 Answer 1

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A Breech Phrase™ is one where

The second word is the reverse of the rot-$n$ encrypted first word for some number $n$.

Examples

If we apply the rot-9 cipher to UNFIT, we get DWORC which is CROWD backwards.
If we apply the rot-23 cipher to SLUG, we get PIRD, which is DRIP backwards.
If we apply the rot-16 cipher to COCKY, we get SESAO which is OASES backwards.
If we apply the rot-16 cipher to BOXED, we get RENUT which is TUNER backwards.
If we apply the rot-14 cipher to WOMB, we get KCAP which is PACK backwards.
If we apply the rot-8 cipher to LAST, we get TIAB which is BAIT backwards.

Bonus Question

My guess would be that a Twin Breech Phrase™ could use the same word twice. Obviously, every palindrome which is sufficiently grammatically flexible provides us with a trivial Twin Breech Phrase™ but we can also find some more:

rot-13
CHERUP CHERUP
FANS FANS (which means cools down the supporters via a wafting motion)
ROBE ROBE (which means to wrap a robe in a robe)
REBORE REBORE (which means to make a new wider boring out of one that already exists)

Meaning of Breech

One possibility, as pointed out by Dan Russell in the comments, is that this refers to a 'breech' birth - when a baby is born feet first, so reversed (and possibly rotated).

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  • $\begingroup$ Great answer! Do you have any ideas about why they are called "Breech Phrases"? $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Nov 3, 2016 at 11:59
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    $\begingroup$ A "breech" birth is one where the baby's feet come out first, so reversed (and possibly rotated as well). $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Nov 3, 2016 at 13:49
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @DanRussell. I was also thinking that a breech phrase has a pair of words, like a pair of breeches and that the words are somehow 'opposite' like left and right? $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Nov 3, 2016 at 13:55
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    $\begingroup$ @hexomino That sounds reasonable too, though now my brain is going to a baby being born feet first into a pair of pants, or twins being born feet first, one into each leg of a pair of pants... $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Nov 3, 2016 at 14:05
  • $\begingroup$ @DanRussell, you're on the right track with breech (or backwards) babies. How are these babies commonly delivered? That's the last dot to connect in explaining the name of the phrase. $\endgroup$
    – DyingIsFun
    Nov 3, 2016 at 23:49

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