Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › I feel so vulnerable, so exposed . . .
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February 24, 2011 at 6:31 pm #598076
DPMemberFebruary 24, 2011 at 6:46 pm #718506
JanSParticipantso cold…
February 24, 2011 at 7:12 pm #718507
JimmyGMemberCold = Shrinkage.
February 24, 2011 at 7:42 pm #718508
DPMemberFebruary 24, 2011 at 8:19 pm #718509
miwsParticipantDavid, just be glad that you aren’t a brass monkey.
I think it’s supposed to get even colder over the next couple of days…
Mike
February 24, 2011 at 8:20 pm #718510
JoBParticipantwhen your heart is already made of stone ;->
February 24, 2011 at 8:56 pm #718511
funkietooParticipantFebruary 24, 2011 at 10:52 pm #718512
norquayMemberhelp, fool needs to grok “they grow up so fast…”
February 24, 2011 at 11:38 pm #718513
lindaParticipantSpeaking of Brass Monkeys, cold and shrinkage:
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon, but how to prevent them from rolling about the deck?
The best storage method devised was 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 or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a “Monkey” with 16 round indentations. But, if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make “Brass Monkeys.” Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much 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”.
I’ll cite my source later, the book is at home in my book shelf.
February 25, 2011 at 12:35 am #718514
hopeyParticipantExcellent! Thanks for sharing, Linda!
February 25, 2011 at 1:05 am #718515
DPMemberHaving trouble picturing all that, until I found this:
See? Don’t ever let anyone tell you that time spent on the Internet is wasted time.
“Playing on the Internet again?” says the wife.
“What? Playing? —Woman, a lot you know!” says I.
Â
February 25, 2011 at 1:08 am #718516
JoBParticipantFebruary 25, 2011 at 3:46 am #718517
lindaParticipantI have to admit, it is also one of my all time favorites as well. Love the picture DP!
As promised, here is my source (just cannot overcome the no plagiarism drilled into me in the process of earning the Poli Sci/Political Economy degree):
Albert Jack, “Red Herrings & White Elephants The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day” (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004), page 12.
While not the exact phrasing since the original source was an ages old email, this marvelous book does include the origin of this expression, as well as many others.
February 25, 2011 at 6:33 am #718518
PibalParticipantAhhh bummer…
It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a “monkey”, to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the “monkey” would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[7] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[8] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[9]
They give five main reasons:
1.The OED does not record the term “monkey” or “brass monkey” being used in this way.
2.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.
3.Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling around on deck and 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 or jamming in the barrel and exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.
5.The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard a warship.
…and…
From
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY — NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE — WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060:
It has often been claimed that the “brass monkey” was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the “monkey” with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the “monkey.” This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson’s Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991): 17.
February 25, 2011 at 6:56 am #718519
PibalParticipantTalk about overexposed…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stanthorpe-brass-monkey-1942.jpg
March 6, 2011 at 9:17 am #718520
JiggersMemberI don’t feel so insecure anymore.
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