You will probably have heard the phrase, “it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”
Where does it come from and what does it mean
Well it comes from the days of Sailing ships and Cannon’s, Cannonballs where stored in a pyramid on a ships deck next to each cannon. The common material for making these retainers to stack cannonballs was brass, they where called “Monkeys” Now the US Navy says this has nothing to do with Naval history, or at least US naval history, but I have heard it referenced in UK historically so.
The Theory is that when it gets cold, many materials contract, when it gets hot they expand, so in a cold period the brass monkey would contract ant the cannonballs would be pushed out from their container. Hense “Freeze the balls off a brass monkey!”
Now a lot of Americans will argue this, because obviously if the US Navy says it is not the case, then they should know right. Wrong. The US thinks it knows everything about everything, which it regularly proves it doesn’t.
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Hi I am Marcus, MM0ZIF, a licenced Radio Amateur, Doctor of Musicology, amateur weather enthusiast. I over the years have been a Amateur Radio Tutor, Examiner, and a Regional Manager for the Radio Society of Great Britain.
This site is dedicated more towards Amateur Radio and Weather, with an angle on Technology too. I also maintain https://havenswell.com/ which is my other blog which is more aimed at cooking, hobbies and life in general as well as businness and networking.
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