The phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off (or on ) a brass monkey " is a colloquial expression used by some English speakers. The reference to the testes (as the term balls is commonly understood to mean) of the brass monkey appears to be a 20th century variant on the expression, prefigured by a range of references to other body parts, especially the nose and tail.
These earlier expressions would seem to indicate that the brass monkey took the form of a real monkey, rather than being the name for some dissimilar object, without a nose and tail, such as a tray to hold cannonballs as has been theorised.
The balls may refer to Kelvin spheres, soft iron balls similar to cannon balls (round shot) used to compensate for magnetic deviation in a ship's binnacle. The term brass monkey would refer to the support arms for the Kelvin spheres which were constructed of brass or other non-magnetic material, monkey being an archaic mechanical term to describe an adjustable support or arm. William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824-1907) developed and promoted this method of compass correction based on prior work by Sir George Biddell Airy (1801-1892) in the late 1800s to improve on Matthew Flinders' (1774-1814) method, the Flinders bar. The appearance of Kelvin spheres held up by brass monkeys on the ship's binnacle offered an opportunity to expand on earlier expressions.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Toshogu in Nikkō, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly.
The theory of the Three Wise Monkeys as being the source of the expression is supported by Michael Quinion, advisor to The Oxford English Dictionary and author of World Wide Words .
Whether or not it was these brass monkeys—common objects that could be purchased in any store selling Asian goods—or some other object, possibly not closely related to actual monkeys, has been a subject of speculation, theories and association.
The phrase, as it is currently used, is found in most English-speaking countries, and is sometimes abbreviated to "brass monkey weather". According to Quinion, the expressions relating to "brass monkeys" have more currency in Australia and New Zealand than elsewhere.
Early recorded uses of the expression
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 is the subject of the metaphor.
- In 1672 it was written in the Banker's Magazine by Bradford-Rhodes & Co "The Earl of Hardscrabble as played by HB House was so blamed funny it would make a brass monkey laugh."
- 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".
- The expression "hot enough to melt the nose off a brass monkey" dates from 1847. 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".
The current reference to the monkey's balls, rather than its nose, tail or other anatomical part or characteristic such as "gall" is in line with a general trend within the 20th century towards both sexually oriented or obscene references in colloquial English.
Other theories on the origin of the expression
Cannonballs
One theory, of sufficient popularity as to be an example of so-called folk etymology, is that a brass monkey is a brass tray used in naval ships during the Napoleonic Wars, for the storage of cannonballs, piled up in a pyramid. The theory goes that the tray would contract in cold weather, causing the balls to fall off. This theory is discredited by the US. Department of the Navy and the etymologist Michael Quinion and the OED's AskOxford website for five main reasons:
- The Oxford English Dictionary does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" being used in this way.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- The physics do not stand up to scrutiny. All of the balls would contract equally, and 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.
Brass cannons
A similar theory states that the expression refers to a cannon. Quinion notes that there was a cannon nicknamed this in the mid-17th century (much too early).
To get a line from one ship to another, it was necessary to take a small piece of shot, and using knot tying skills, encase it with sturdy light rope, resulting in the weight attached to the end of a heaving line. That would be referred to as a monkey fist and a seaman would throw the line to a ship alongside, which would haul it over, thus getting a heavier line or some item. Again, with the distances involved, often the monkey fist and line would be fired from a signaling gun.
In those days, a ship was captained from the raised aft quarter deck, and the small cannon there was used for firing lines, signaling and combat against persons (either on another ship or mutineers), often fired by the captain himself. It was a small cannon, usually about 2-3' in length and less than 2" in bore, and mounted on a swivel, able to be swung 360 degrees. This swivel gun was often referred to as a monkey gun.
To assist in aiming the gun, aft of the mounting there usually would be either loops or knobs cast onto the barrel on each side, aft of the swivel mounting or on the end of the gun. As might be expected, these were referred to as ears or balls and grasped by the person doing the aiming. The guns were usually the property of the ship's master and a matter of personal pride, like his personal charts, navigation instruments, clock, etc. Common guns would be cast iron, but a well-off captain would have a fine brass monkey gun.
So, with the monkey gun located in an exposed position aboard ship, and the rapid changes of temperature, especially in arctic latitudes, the difference in mass of the parts of the cast cannon, either brass or iron, was reputed to create cracking when temperature changed rapidly.
Thus, "Cold enough to freeze the balls (or ears) off a brass (or cast iron) monkey!"
Cunard
The "brass monkey" is the nickname of the house flag of the Cunard Line, adopted in 1878, a lion rampant or on a field gules holding a globe. The reference is almost certainly irreverent humour, rather than a source of the expression, of which variants predate it.
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". Hence the joke that Bob Newhart told while guest-hosting The Tonight Show , that it was so cold outside that he "saw a pawnbroker wrapping a blanket around his brass monkey."
Other references to brass monkeys
Radio
In the propagandist early radio show "I Was a Communist for the FBI" "a brass monkey" is used as a variant of the phrase "a monkey on one's back". In the episode on Wednesday 8 April 1953 , episode #51, entitled "The
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