Brass monkey (colloquial expression)

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This article is about the colloquial expression. For other uses of the term, see Brass monkey.

The phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is sometimes used by English speakers. What a brass monkey is in this phrase is not known. (The phrase is found in most English-speaking countries, and is sometimes abbreviated to "brass monkey weather".)

Contents 1 Meaning 1.1 Euphemism 1.2 Cannonballs? 1.3 Nautical terminology 2 Pawnbrokers 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Meaning

According to Snopes, it is simply unknown. According to Michael Quinion, it is very likely a figurine or statue of a monkey made of brass, "something solid and inert that can only be affected by extremes".

The "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, a lion rampant or on a field gules holding a globe, but any connection with the phrase is uncertain. This does look very slightly like a monkey holding a ball, but as this flag was only adopted in 1878 the nickname could derive from the phrase rather than vice versa.

In the propagandist early Radio Show "I was a Communist for the FBI" "A Brass Monkey" was a person with a monkey on their back. In the episode on Wednesday Apr 08, 1953 episode #51 titled "The Brass Monkey" it referred to a convict with a "Brass Monkey" meaning a conviction.

[edit] Euphemism

Some suggest that brass monkey is itself a euphemism for stiff testicles. This is supported by the common shortening of the phrase to "It's brass monkeys."

[edit] Cannonballs?

One popular theory is that a brass monkey is a brass tray used in naval ships during the Napoleonic Wars, used for the storage of cannonballs, piled up in a pyramid on the tray, which would contract in cold weather, causing the balls to fall off. This theory is discredited by Snopes, Michael Quinion, and others for four main reasons:

1. The Oxford English Dictionary does not record any such thing. (Indeed, the OED's AskOxford web site also discredits this theory, for the same reasons as given here.)
2. Early references to "brass monkeys" in the 19th century have no references to balls at all, but instead variously say that it is cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears, and whiskers off a brass monkey; or hot enough to "scald the throat" or "singe the hair" of a brass monkey. All of these variations imply that an actual monkey, and not a metal tray, is the subject of the metaphor.
   • The first recorded use of freezing a "brass monkey" dates from 1857, being on page 108 of Before the Mast by C.A. Abbey in his book, where it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey". (Ref: Lighter, J.E.)
   • "hot enough to melt the nose off a brass monkey" dates from 1847 (Living Age, New York 14(167):151 — Ref:Phrase Finder). It similarly occurs in the context of heat in Herman Melville's Omoo (1850): "It was so excessively hot in this still, brooding valley, shut out from the Trades, and only open toward the leeward side of the island, that labor in the sun was out of the question. To use a hyperbolical phrase of Shorty's, 'It was 'ot enough to melt the nose h'off a brass monkey.'"
   • The Story of Waitstill Baxter, by Kate Douglas Wiggin (1913) has "The little feller, now, is smart's a whip, an' could talk the tail off a brass monkey".
   • The Ivory Trail, by Talbot Mundy (1919) has "He has the gall of a brass monkey".
3. The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible. Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling loose and rolling around on deck, causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks — longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.
4. Shot was not left exposed to the elements, where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.

Therefore, this appears to be an example of folk etymology.

[edit] Nautical terminology

This is not to say that "monkey" does not have nautical meanings. It has:

• "monkey" —
  • a small coastal trading vessel of the 16th century and 17th century, single masted with a square sail
  • a small wooden cask in which grog was carried after issue from a grog-tub to the seamen's messes in the Royal Navy
  • a type of marine steam reciprocating engine where two engines were used together in tandem on the same propeller shaft
  • a sailor whose job involved climbing and moving swiftly (which usage dates from 1858)
  • a kind of gun or cannon (which usage dates from 1650)
• "monkey boat" — a narrow vessel used on canals (also dates from 1858).
• "monkey gaff" — a small gaff on large merchant vessels.
• "monkey jacket" — a close fitting jacket worn by sailors
• "monkey fist" — the end of a line when tied into a knot or ball, used to give weight to the line for heaving (still in use today)
• "monkey spars" — small masts and yards on vessels used for the "instruction and exercise of boys"
• "monkey pump" — a straw used to suck the liquid from a small hole in a cask
• "monkey block" — a block used in the rigging of sailing ships
• "monkey island" — a ship's upper bridge
• "monkey drill" — calisthenics by naval personnel (which usage dates from 1895)
• "monkey march" — close order march by US Marine Corps personnel (which usage dates from 1952)
• "monkey tail" — a short hand spike, use to aim a carronade
• "powder monkey" — a boy who on a warship carried gun powder from the magazine to the cannon and performed other ordnance duties (which usage dates from 1682).

[edit] Pawnbrokers

Yet another theory is that the traditional sign outside a pawnbroker's shop, three brass spheres suspended from a gantry, was known in some parts as a "brass monkey" and the expression refers to these, very exposed, "balls".

[edit] References

• Michael Quinion. Brass Monkey weather. World Wide Words. Retrieved on July 21, 2005.
• Brass Monkeyshines. Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved on July 21, 2005. itself citing
  • Beavis, Bill (1994). Salty Dog Talk: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions. New York: Sheridan House. ISBN 0-924486-82-1. 
  • Isil, Olivia A. (1996). When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse, There's the Devil to Pay. Camden, ME: International Marine. ISBN 0-07-032877-3.  Pages 23-24
  • King, Dean (1995). A Sea of Words. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-3816-7. 
  • Lighter, J.E. (1997). Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-43464-X. 
  • (1993) The Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861258-3. 
• Brass Monkeys. The Phrase Finder. Retrieved on July 21, 2005. itself citing
  • Cassidy, Frederick G. and Joan Houston Hall eds. (1996). Dictionary of American Regional English. vol.3. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.  page 642
  • Wilfred Granville (1962). A Dictionary of Sailors' Slang. London: Andre Deutch.  page 77
  • Peter Kemp ed. (1976). Oxford Companion to Ships & the Sea. New York: Oxford University; Press.  page 556
  • (1933) The Oxford English Dictionary.. New York: Oxford University Press. 
  • J.E. Lighter, as cited by Snopes
  • Eric Partridge. A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English 8th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.  page 917
  • Longridge, C. Nepean (1981). The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press.  page 64
  • (1991) The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley.  page 17
  • Rogers, John (1984). Origins of Sea Terms. Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport Museum.  page 23
• What's the origin of the term "brass monkey"?. AskOxford: Ask the experts. Retrieved on July 21, 2005.

[edit] External links

• The Cunard White Star Company house flag