Balls and Br*** Monkeys

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Have you heard the expression 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a br*** monkey'? Did you think it rather a risqué comment? I always thought it was although I didn't understand it. I learnt today that it actually comes from the days of sailing ships equipped with cannons. It was necessary to keep a supply of cannon balls near the cannon. The best way of storing a number of balls was to have a base layer of 16 balls, the next layer of nine balls, then four and finally one on top. The problem was how to stop them rolling all over the deck To stop the bottom layer sliding out from under, a metal plate called a 'monkey' was devised. This had 16 round indentations for the balls. However if the monkey was made of iron, the iron cannon balls would quickly rust to it. The solution was to make a 'monkey' out of brass. However, brass contracts much faster than iron and in really cold temperatures, the brass shrank so much the cannonballs would come off. Hence the expression 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a br*** monkey'. Another piece of trivia for you all. Sorry about the asterisks but it won't let me mention brass and monkey within close proximity to each other. The photo is one Vin shot of monkeys at Monkey Temple in Khatmandu, Nepal