# Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey - origin

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 13, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247 "2004-01-13T15:04:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247/1 "2004-01-13T15:04:26Z")

</div>

Got this email today and going into a meeting - don’t have time to do a detailed Google or Snopes check, but trust that there are nautical Dopers out there who can comment. Part of me assumes it is a UL, but the guy who sent it is a nautical guy ™ so I am open to the possibility that there is a grain of truth to it:

> [@](#):
>
> Historical fact  
> It was necessary to keep a good supply of canon balls near the cannon on  
> ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the  
> problem.  
> The best storage method devised was to stack them as 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/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate with  
> 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. 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”!  
> And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar \_expression, didn’t you?

Comments? Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247/2 "2004-01-13T15:08:23Z")

</div>

My meeting got delayed 15 minutes and checking Snopes took 45 seconds.

Snopes calls bullshit:

[http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm)

Sorry to bother anyone. Mods, please delete this thread if you aren’t too busy with the updates…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247/3 "2004-01-13T15:17:12Z")

</div>

I’ll be interested to see if anyone can prove this “historical fact”.  
I was told this story one when I was sailing (or rather I was being sailed 🙂 ) in the Solent. It was related to me by a pukka gen sailor and so of course I believed him.  
I was showing off at work a week or two later with my new found knowledge and when I repeated this story I was called upon to prove it. To cut a long story short I couldn’t. I googled it for all my worth and couldn’t get proof, in fact I think you’ll find it’s a good story but a myth. I stand to be corrected of course.  
V

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off-a-brass-monkey-origin/224247/4 "2004-01-13T18:34:26Z")

</div>

Wasn’t the mid-19th Century about the time that monkeys became a popular household adornment? I’ve seen all sorts of antiques with the “see no evil, etc.” triplet tacked or engraved onto them.

I wouldn’t be surprised if bronze and brass monkeys were also a fairly common lawn and garden ornament. And chances are, they didn’t come with a set of cojones, which on a cold day sets them up for the joke.

Unfortunately, this is utter speculation.