anvilmanco
12-27-2012, 04:03 PM
I may be the only one who didn't know this, but, recently, I read where that saying, Cold enough to freeze the Balls off of a Brass Monkey came from. I always thought it was just a naughty little saying. :hysterical: In fact, it's supposedly comes from seafarin days when cannons were used on ships. We've all seen the cannon balls stacked up neatly in piles, with a square base and a single ball at the top. That's OK on dry land, but on a ship with all the movement, obviously, the ball stack would come apart and balls would roll everywhere.
So, the story goes, that a BRASS plate with the desired number of holes in it, would be placed on the deck. The balls would then be stacked as normal, but the BRASS plate would keep the bottom balls in place, hence, the whole stack in place. The BRASS plate was called...you guessed it....a BRASS MONKEY. Now when it got cold enough at sea, the BRASS MONKEY would contract due to the cold, thereby letting the balls slip OFF and roll away.
It got COLD ENOUGH TO FREEZE THE BALLS OFF OF A BRASS MONKEY was born. How bought that? :peace:
So, the story goes, that a BRASS plate with the desired number of holes in it, would be placed on the deck. The balls would then be stacked as normal, but the BRASS plate would keep the bottom balls in place, hence, the whole stack in place. The BRASS plate was called...you guessed it....a BRASS MONKEY. Now when it got cold enough at sea, the BRASS MONKEY would contract due to the cold, thereby letting the balls slip OFF and roll away.
It got COLD ENOUGH TO FREEZE THE BALLS OFF OF A BRASS MONKEY was born. How bought that? :peace: