Trivia Tid Bit

[tg Shannon]

For all of my intellectual friends (plus a couple of others).

It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old
war ships. 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. 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 / 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 - hence, Brass Monkeys. Few
landlubbers realize that brass contracts muc h 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 monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass
monkey. And all this time, folks thought that was just a vulgar expression? You
must send this fabulous bit of historical knowledge to at least a few
intellectual friends.

[NEPHX]

wow... that is a very interesting story... I never knew (hmm... or much thought about brass monkey balls).

Another is the saying I use when skiing on a very cold day such as anytime at Killington VT) "Its as cold as a witches tit(teat)"

http://www.answers.com/topic/witch-s-tit

But, truly, there must be very little to do in Tenn at 7AM on a Sunday :-) or at least as little as there is to do at 4:40 AM in AZ

[Doggiestyle]

I have always heard the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey", But never knew where it came from. Gotta admit, that's a good one allright.

I have also heard the expression "it's cold enough to freeze the nuts off a iron gate". I wonder where that one came from? So, there you go Bicdmale! Try to figgure out where that one came from?

The "colder than a witches tit" is another one tha's been around for a long time too. I gotta admit that I have never felt of a witches tit, (not knowingly that is) so i'm not too shure about how cold that is either.

We have also heard the expression "I'm freezin my ass off"!!! That's when you sorta give them smile while lookin behind them and say either "naw man youre ok, you got plenty left" OR you could say something like "yep, you shure have, too late for you now"

My for today. Youre friend,

[graytwo]

It's amazing how many phrases and idioms we use every day but have no clue where they came from. A neat site to visit is:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings

Although it doesn't have every known phrase/idiom, the site sure provides references to when it appeared in print or was used generally.

Nice thread - thanks for starting it.

graytwo

[tg Shannon]

Thanks graytoo, interesting stuff, not sure about the iron gate thing doggie, but I'll look for it, thanks for the replys all!!

[oldbone]

Well, it's an interesting story, but I don't know if if holds water, so to speak.
Peruse the following: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/c...%20monkey.html

[2Hoteez4U]

good story, but according to snopes, false.

http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp

[12voltman59]

It is interesting the origins of many sayings----the one I found interesting--the various reported origins of the phrase "the Real McCoy."

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



I have heard one other version for the origin came from a man who was a former slave who had created some product that for its type----you had to "have the real McCoy."