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Is This a Vulgar Expression?

by: iradiotom - Philadelphia, PA
started: 01/29/11 10:59 am | updated: 01/29/11 4:34 pm

"Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." Where did that expression come from?

CANNON BALLS! On old war ships, it was necessary to keep a supply of cannon balls near the cannon. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.

A supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.

The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass â€“ so they were called, Brass Monkeys.

For you landlubbers, brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.

Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the brass monkey.

Therefore, occassionally it became "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."

Not a vulgar expression after all. I suppose I'll stop using it.

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(2) responses

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by: quadpain - Huntingdon Valley, PA | responded: 01/29 11:21 am

It is indeed vulgar and does refer to said anatomy of monkey. Look further into urban myths perpetuated by email/social networks before believing the whole story. The above version is debunked on wikipedia so their version must be true ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey

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by: iradiotom - Philadelphia, PA | responded: 01/29 3:02 pm

Well then, it's a good thing this forum is intended to be a conversation for the entertainment of its users and not a library reference section.

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