Brass Monkey

joe44va

joe44va

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I have heard that saying "It's so cold it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey" refers to old war ships. The plate with holes they piled cannon balls on the deck is called a "monkey". If made of brass or bronze they would contract more in the cold than the iron cannon balls causing some to pop off. Anybody know if this is true or not?
 
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joe44va said:
I have heard that saying "It's so cold it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey" refers to old war ships. The plate with holes they piled cannon balls on the deck is called a "monkey". If made of brass or bronze they would contract more in the cold than the iron cannon balls causing some to pop off. Anybody know if this is true or not?
Click to expand...

With Brass Monkey's you also have Powder Monkey's--basically a kid who fetcches powder for cannon crews.

From a post I copied and made years ago:
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, 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 or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.' Few landlubbers realize that 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 cannonballs would come right off the monkey; Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.' (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.)
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soFlaNative said:
Pulled this link from Bekeart's post made regarding this
very subject on 12/21. Hope it helps, good story though.
Brass Monkeys : snopes.com
Click to expand...

snopes is NOT a good reliable source. According to a few radio hosts and somewhat in their own words but--those who created snopes are basically two over-weight couch-potatoes in California who are libs who TRY to convince one and all-that only they know what's real and what aint.
 
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Okay, how about "Colder than a witch's," ah, um, "chest.. in a brass bra?!"

Is it true that it originated in a pizza parlor run by two old ladies in downtown Duluth on a winter morn when the famous lumberjack Paul Bunyan walked in, icicles dripping from his ample beard, and asked for a slice of Sicilian, over easy? (Hey, don't ask me! I don't have a clue. Better Snopes it!)
 
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"Cold enough to freeze the nuts off a bridge" came from the tragic occurance in Latvia when an insane asylum was accidentally bombed in WWII. The inmates fled, but they were trapped on a bridge over the Daugava when ends of the bridge were simultaneously destroyed by artillery and as night fell, the temperature dropped to 20 below zero. The inmates were consequently forced to jump from the bridge. They then walked on the ice to the nearest pub, spent the remainder of the war there, and then formed the United Nations.
 
Old TexMex said:
"Cold enough to freeze the nuts off a bridge" came from the tragic occurance in Latvia when an insane asylum was accidentally bombed in WWII. The inmates fled, but they were trapped on a bridge over the Daugava when ends of the bridge were simultaneously destroyed by artillery and as night fell, the temperature dropped to 20 below zero. The inmates were consequently forced to jump from the bridge. They then walked on the ice to the nearest pub, spent the remainder of the war there, and then formed the United Nations.
Click to expand...

According to snopes, that is entirely correct.
 
Although this one appears spurious, a number of common colloquialisms do derive from early British naval technology, if Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series is to be believed. Many opaque expressions become transparent in the course of reading this excellent series.
 
This is all playing havoc with my long-standing mental image of the "brass monkey," which involves a simian figure similar to the "see no evil" trio, but with said simian having his hands over a different portion of his anatomy.

Sorry, but I like my imagery better...
 
most if not all of the cannons and gun ports on men of war ships I've seen are below the main deck....with doors that could lifted when it was time to fire the cannons... only a few cannon and swivel guns were seen on the main deck of those ships...

so there was no need to have cannon balls on the main deck... they were needed to be kept by every cannon.. though I'm sure the black powder was kept in a water proof magazine.. and brought out as needed. Tell me if I'm wrong on my memory guys. It's been too long since I've seen
" Master and Commander " or Hornblower.
 
Here we see Major General E.J. Milford RAAC (CB CBE DSO) in Borneo, after accepting the surrender of the Imperial Japanese forces there.
After the Major General was re-assigned to the Northern Islands of Japan (in December 1946) where the bald monkey was undoubtedly frozen off the brass. ;)
 
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