# Brass Monkey? Funky Cold Medina? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698 "2003-06-27T04:20:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/1 "2003-06-27T04:20:01Z")
I seem to recall that a Brass Monkey is an old term for a stack of cannon balls. But my question has to do with the Brass Monkey we find in the old Beastie Boys song. Is it a drink? A shot? A mickey? A liqueur? A liquor? Also is Funky Cold Medina something more than a catchy little ditty by Tone Loc? I just Googled both Brass Monkey and Funky Cold Medina, and found recipes for both (as a drink & a shot), but were these named after the songs, or were the songs named after them? ([http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/3756](http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/3756) & [http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1966](http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1966)) Happy ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/2 "2003-06-27T04:25:16Z")
Funky Cold Medina was about a drink called the Funky Cold Medina. In fact someone in the video was pointing to a bubbling green drink as he said “Funky Cold Medina” and on “I love the 80’s” on VH1 just a little while ago, they were saying that it was something you would drink before “getting it on.” As for Brass Monkey I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/3 "2003-06-27T04:26:04Z")
> [@](#): > > I seem to recall that a Brass Monkey is an old term for a stack of cannon balls. [Obligatory Snopes link](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm) (Sorry I can’t be more helpful than that.) ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/4 "2003-06-27T04:56:33Z")
A dab of Google also results in a [drink](http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/1966) called a Brass Monkey - rum, vodka and OJ. Also referenced as a beverage in a [Beastie Boys song](http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~harel/cgi/page/htmlit?Brass_Monkey.html). And a reference to a [tray](http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/brass_monkey.html) used for stacking cannon balls - > [@](#): > > Under exceptionally cold conditions, the tray would shrink to the point where the bottom layer of stacked shot would be squeezed until it would suddenly “pop” the balls out, scattering the entire pile across the deck. Hence: cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm) says otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/5 "2003-06-27T04:58:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Happy Lendervedder \* > **I seem to recall that a Brass Monkey is an old term for a stack of cannon balls.** I’ve always heard it as slang for “penis.” Which explained why the radio station I grew up listening to always had the “Brass Monkey Weather Report.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/6 "2003-06-27T04:58:35Z")
Medina is also stinky fertilizer. Actually, that’s my ignorant term - Medina is a soil activator or something, but I don’t know how that is and is not like ordinary fertilizer. [http://www.medinaag.com/gardprod.htm](http://www.medinaag.com/gardprod.htm) It’s funky, it makes things grow with amazing speed and vigor… (and it’s been around since Tone Loc was a child, at least) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/7 "2003-06-27T12:23:57Z")
Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers (DC go-go scene) sang about the funky cold medina in the early 80’s. Still wondering WTF it is. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/8 "2003-06-27T14:20:59Z")
Brass Monkey is a great drink…vodka, rum, orange juice(or orange soda) and grenadine. Tasty, but strong. You can usually find it pre-mixed in a bottle under the Club brand of very cheap drinks. **Max Carnage** and I both found out, to our dismay, how strong an entire bottle is. Whew. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/9 "2003-06-28T00:00:02Z")
- - - I once saw a translation of popular rap expressions which said that “Medina” is a slang term for the old Moslem quarter of any large city. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/10 "2003-06-28T00:20:55Z")
[Brass monkey.](http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm) [Brass Monkey](http://www.summitestate.com.au/brassmonkeysixpack.html), the wine, is supposedly what the Beastie Boys sang about, if the grapevine (heh) in the 1980s was reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/11 "2003-06-28T00:25:59Z")
By the way, I don’t understand the use of the term “brass monkey” in the wine industry. It has something to do with a season? Brass monkey season? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/12 "2003-06-28T01:11:23Z")
Maybe Medina is a playful way of saying M.D. as in Mogan David… Let’s get some em dee, let’s get some emdy, and the the leap to medina. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/13 "2003-06-28T01:17:38Z")
Being a Londoner, we always used to say “It’s brass Monkeys out today!” meaning: it’s cold! ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/14 "2003-06-28T01:39:58Z")
There’s an expression that goes “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. So I guess brass monkey season would be the cold season. ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/15 "2003-06-28T02:30:24Z")
i’d always understood Funky Cold Medina to be a Spanish Fly-type substance ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/16 "2003-06-28T04:07:59Z")
A few [lyrics from Tone Loc (hereinafter Mr. Loc) are probably in order. > [@](#): > > the girls are all jocking > at the other end of the bar > having drinks with some no name chump > … > I asked the guy, “why you so fly?” > he said “funky cold medina” > this brother told me a secret > on how to get more chicks > put a little medina in your glass > and the girls’ll come real quick Obviously “funky cold medina” is _not_ necessarily some form of aphrodisiac. Nor is it necessarily a drink itself–the lyrics don’t make it crystal clear as to whether it might be an additive. Mr. Loc’s description of FCM is that it’s a powerful attractant, not an aphrodisiac, or a potion intended to enhance sexual performance. Of course, Mr. Loc could have been singing [url=“[http://www.kissthisguy.com/archive/lyric.1295.html](http://www.kissthisguy.com/archive/lyric.1295.html)”]funky Coleman heater]([http://www.weddingvendors.com/music/lyrics/song-964.html](http://www.weddingvendors.com/music/lyrics/song-964.html)). That’s something I haven’t tried in a singles bar yet. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brass-monkey-funky-cold-medina/184698/17 "2003-06-28T04:09:28Z")
Holy cow, did I ever mess that coding up. That’s gotta be a record for worst coding evah.