Down to "brass tacks" ... That makes so much more sense.

For something completely relevant, a bit of history

The expression "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" does not refer to the POA Monkey or anything simian like it, alive or dead.

It comes from storing cannonballs aboard ship or elsewhere on a brass rack or tray usually stacked in the shape of a pyramid. That rack was called a Monkey. If it got cold enough, the tray would freeze and shrink enough to loosen the cannonballs and thus causing the balls to drop off the tray and thereby Freezing the balls off a brass monkey.

Back to coloring children. And no, I have no idea why the rack was called a Monkey.

Cheers
 
In first grade I was cast as a shepherd in the school Christmas pageant and we had to sing Silent Night. I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to sleep with bees, no matter how heavenly they were.
 
X3 Skier said:
For something completely relevant, a bit of history

The expression "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" does not refer to the POA Monkey or anything simian like it, alive or dead.

It comes from storing cannonballs aboard ship or elsewhere on a brass rack or tray usually stacked in the shape of a pyramid. That rack was called a Monkey. If it got cold enough, the tray would freeze and shrink enough to loosen the cannonballs and thus causing the balls to drop off the tray and thereby Freezing the balls off a brass monkey.

Back to coloring children. And no, I have no idea why the rack was called a Monkey.

Cheers
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It makes a story...but not even a good one. Can you imagine any seaman would leave a potentially dangerous object like a cannonball unrestrained? Get a few of those rolling around on deck in a storm and they'd be looking at serious damage.
 
We used butchers wax to polish the floors back when I went through.
 
How many reindeer are there? 10! The traditional 8 plus Rudolph. And Olive! From the classic song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".... "Olive, the other reindeer......"
 
eman1200 said:
boobs.

see, @Kritchlow was right!
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I guess technically these are bras stacks...........



Stack-Bras.jpg




brass tax..............bras stacks.............................{hangs head in shame}
 
X3 Skier said:
For something completely relevant, a bit of history

The expression "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" does not refer to the POA Monkey or anything simian like it, alive or dead.

It comes from storing cannonballs aboard ship or elsewhere on a brass rack or tray usually stacked in the shape of a pyramid. That rack was called a Monkey. If it got cold enough, the tray would freeze and shrink enough to loosen the cannonballs and thus causing the balls to drop off the tray and thereby Freezing the balls off a brass monkey.

Back to coloring children. And no, I have no idea why the rack was called a Monkey.

Cheers
Click to expand...

That's the story I got from the Sailors that man the USS Constitution. The steel cannon balls would rust together when stacked. To solve this problem they came up with a brass casting that the cannon balls would not rust to. Being on a ship at sea there was always water present and it could get cold enough to freeze and the expanding ice would sometimes push the cannon balls off the brass monkey.
 
X3 Skier said:
For something completely relevant, a bit of history

Back to coloring children.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, some of us have actually heard that story before. As for coloring children, no need, God does that for us.
 
I always hear.... "The girl with colitis goes by....."

Lucy in the sky with diamonds...

Sorry, not so good drugs I am taking now..
 
Zeldman said:
I always hear.... "The girl with colitis goes by....."

Lucy in the sky with diamonds...

Sorry, not so good drugs I am taking now..
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It just the bad moon on the right.
 
tmyers said:
That's the story I got from the Sailors that man the USS Constitution. The steel cannon balls would rust together when stacked. To solve this problem they came up with a brass casting that the cannon balls would not rust to. Being on a ship at sea there was always water present and it could get cold enough to freeze and the expanding ice would sometimes push the cannon balls off the brass monkey.
Click to expand...
Yep. Old wives' tale, and it's salacious enough to keep telling.

But consider: Cannonballs stacked in a pyramid looks impressive, but imagine such a stack in a heavy sea with the ship pitching and rolling. If the stack destabilizes, you've got 32-pound bowling balls rocketing around randomly.

(in fact, when men didn't like a particular officer, they'd wait until a dark night and bowl a couple of cannonballs at him. It was called, "shot rolling.")

OK...so let's imagine an iron (not steel, in the fighting sail era) or brass rack. Biggest thing there is the expense...neither iron or brass is cheap. And, if you're in combat and an enemy shot hits one of these contrivances, all the shot it holds come rolling out at once. Bad enough on a dark night with a disaffected crewman, but you really don't want a dozen or so rocketing around after the rack gets hit with a cannonball.

Iron, BTW, is fairly expensive and requires a specialist to repair. Brass is even MORE expensive, plus it tarnishes rapidly at sea. You end up having the tars polishing them all the time, and that would not be very popular.

What do you have on a wooden sailing ship that's cheap, available, and doesn't take much skill to maintain?

Hmmmm....what about wood? "Shot Garlands" were wooden racks that carried cannonballs.
1793147554f75e1b205d7d-125554-wm.jpg

Sailors could also braid old rope into big rings to hold shot, too.

Finally, also, the shot were generally painted, and would be chipped and repainted if they started to rust. Not much opportunity to rust together.

Ron "Cheerly messmates all" Wanttaja
 
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