# Can you freeze your cajones off **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-freeze-your-cajones-off/572795 "2011-02-27T13:53:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mark\_Kelsey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mark\_Kelsey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Kelsey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-freeze-your-cajones-off/572795/1 "2011-02-27T13:53:18Z")
Freezeing the balls off a brass monkey referes to the triangle that holds a stack of cannon balls on a ship.They were made of wood or brass. If a brass one got cold it would contract and a cannon may pop off. (the boy that got the gunpowder were powder monkeys) Hence, Freeze the balls off a brass monkey! ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Kelsey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mark\_Kelsey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Kelsey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-freeze-your-cajones-off/572795/2 "2011-02-27T14:08:40Z")
> [@Mark\_Kelsey](#): > > Freezeing the balls off a brass monkey referes to the triangle that holds a stack of cannon balls on a ship.They were made of wood or brass. If a brass one got cold it would contract and a cannon ball may pop off. (the boy that got the gunpowder were powder monkeys) Hence, Freeze the balls off a brass monkey! Sorry ,cannon ball would pop off- ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-freeze-your-cajones-off/572795/3 "2011-02-27T14:38:29Z")
[Is it possible to freeze your cojones off?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2983/is-it-possible-to-freeze-your-cojones-off) Cecil doesn’t delve into the etymology of the phrase, but many other people have. The [US Navy](http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm) has this to say > [@](#): > > 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. The [OED](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/187) agrees > [@](#): > > It therefore seems most likely that the phrase is simply a humorous reference to the fact that metal figures will become very cold to the touch in cold weather. The [Phrase Finder](http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cold%20enough%20to%20freeze%20the%20balls%20off%20a%20brass%20monkey.html) says > [@](#): > > ‘Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ appears to have originated in the USA in the first part of the 20th century and is clearly based of earlier variants. The earliest citation of that precise phrase that I can find is from as late as 1978 in the autobiography of Mary Oppen, Meaning a life. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-freeze-your-cajones-off/572795/4 "2011-02-28T17:37:10Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, **Mark** , we’re glad to have you with us. First, on “brass monkey,” you might want to check out: [Carats, Chum, Doozies, Going Down?, Cut and Dried and Some Very Cold Brass Monkeys.](http://www.word-detective.com/back-r.html#monkeys) and [Issue of November 16, 2006 -- Page 3](http://www.word-detective.com/111606C.html#brassmonkey06) Second, there is already a thread on this topic. Consequently, I’m closing this one and providing a link to the other discussion: [Is it possible to freeze your cojones off? - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=598431) This is no problem, happens a lot, but we’d prefer to have one thread on each topic. So, please go there for further discussion (the “brass monkey” and cannonballs is discussed there as well.)