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Brinty · 06-03-2009, 06:41 AM

There's one explanation for an expression that I heard many years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, it was on a British radio series called My Word.

The story goes that in the 1400s and 1500s, on warships the canon balls were kept below deck in very cramped conditions with very little headroom. They had boys of eleven or twelve years who's job it was to carry the canon balls up to the canons. These boys were referred to as monkeys because of their crouching in the cramped space and their peculiar gate as they carried the heavy canon balls.

Came a time when they were replaced by a large brass plate with a rim around it where the canon balls were stacked in a pyramidal fashion beside the canons. In the northern winters, seawater blown onto the decks would freeze. Now, when water freezes, it expands. Canon balls drenched with seawater rolled off the brass plates when the water froze and expanded. The brass plates which had replaced the boys referred to as monkeys, became known as brass monkeys.

So, when the weather was extremely cold, it was said to be cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

06-03-2009, 06:41 AM	#1989
Brinty Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Blackbutt, Queensland, Australia Posts: 1,004	Re: _AVALON LOUNGE_ Open 24 hours There's one explanation for an expression that I heard many years ago. If my memory serves me correctly, it was on a British radio series called My Word. The story goes that in the 1400s and 1500s, on warships the canon balls were kept below deck in very cramped conditions with very little headroom. They had boys of eleven or twelve years who's job it was to carry the canon balls up to the canons. These boys were referred to as monkeys because of their crouching in the cramped space and their peculiar gate as they carried the heavy canon balls. Came a time when they were replaced by a large brass plate with a rim around it where the canon balls were stacked in a pyramidal fashion beside the canons. In the northern winters, seawater blown onto the decks would freeze. Now, when water freezes, it expands. Canon balls drenched with seawater rolled off the brass plates when the water froze and expanded. The brass plates which had replaced the boys referred to as monkeys, became known as brass monkeys. So, when the weather was extremely cold, it was said to be cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.