We've all heard the expression, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass
monkey."

Some of us have heard the dubious explanation that a device for holding
cannonballs on a 17th Century warship was called a "monkey", and that the
device was essentially a brass tray. The tray supposedly contracted faster than
the iron cannonballs in cold weather, forcing the precariously balanced
cannonballs to fall "off the monkey". This old chestnut requires more than a
pinch of salt- closer to a barrel. If a change in temperature would force
cannon shot off of holders to roll around the gun deck. what would a normal
seaway do?

Here's what appears to be the straight scoop, once again its an excerpt from
"Ship tp Shore" by Peter D. Jeans.

Monkey, Freeze the balls of/off a brass monkey.......

A coarse expression from the days of sail, which now means extremely cold-
sufficiently cold to prodcue the interesting effect alluded to in the
expression.

In fact, the phrase derives from the brass cannon called a "monkey" in the
seventeenth century. In very cold temperatures, the iron cannonballs and the
bras cannon would contract at markedly different rates, so much so that the gun
would be unusable. Sailors referred to this phenonenon as "freezing the balls
of a brass monkey," the keyword being "of", not "off", and hence the expression
was literally true at the time.



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