# Cold Enough To Freeze The Balls Off..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293 "2004-01-27T15:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/1 "2004-01-27T15:34:21Z")
I had alwas thought that “_It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey_,” was a vulgar expression. I heard a talk show host in NH saying it was that cold where he was and No the expression is not vulgur but goes back to the 1800’s. Do you know the meaning without looking it up? Don’t peek! [http://www.essex1.com/people/jrfrienz/cannonbl.htm](http://www.essex1.com/people/jrfrienz/cannonbl.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/2 "2004-01-27T16:44:51Z")
The [Word Detective](http://www.word-detective.com/back-r.html#monkeys) gives a different origin. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/3 "2004-01-27T17:09:22Z")
Bogus, according to [this](http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/b/brassmonkeys.htm) and [this.](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-bra1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/4 "2004-01-27T17:10:15Z")
Not true, according to [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm) . When you think about it, if you’re on a ship that quite naturally rolls with the waves, how are you going to store your cannonballs? Not in a pyramid on deck. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/5 "2004-01-27T19:52:45Z")
I’ve read the debunkings, so I see that the ship’s canon explanation is probably false… but does anyone know the _truth_? The phrase has been around for a while, so if not the canon ball holder then what was it based on? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/6 "2004-01-27T20:32:08Z")
From [this site:](http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm) > [@](#): > > The first recorded use of the term “brass monkey” appears to dates to 1857 when it was used in an apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book Before the Mast, where on page 108 it says “It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey.” [Source: Lighter, J.E. ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. (New York: Random House, 1994): 262.] ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2004, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/7 "2004-01-27T21:01:54Z")
Kind of unrelated, but funny. One of the pro hockey teams that used to visit Chicago to play the Blackhawks had a prank they would pull when they were in town. There’s a big horse statue in Grant Park, they would sneak up there in the middle of the night and paint the horse’s ball florescent orange. The next day they would come down and take pictures of the unfortunate city worker that had to climb up there and rub the paint off the statue. They were finally caught and arrested after several successful nights of hijinks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/8 "2004-01-28T00:34:37Z")
When I read the title, I finished it off with “A Brass monkey” but the key here is I had just heard it. I’ve never heard that phrase before today, I was walking back from class here on campus and my friend commented that that was how cold it was, and I just laughed thinking he made it up. But now I know, he’s not as cool as I thought he was. Thanks for shattering that dream… ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/9 "2004-01-28T00:48:20Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s a big horse statue in Grant Park, they would sneak up there in the middle of the night and paint the horse’s ball florescent orange See, and that’s what I thought this thread was going to be, a fill in the blank exercise, e.g. “Cold enough to freeze a horse’s flourescent orange balls off”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-enough-to-freeze-the-balls-off/226293/10 "2004-01-28T04:49:17Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > if you’re on a ship that quite naturally rolls with the waves, how are you going to store your cannonballs? Not in a pyramid on deck. Very true, though this silly story seems to have surprising appeal. More than a few normally sensible people have insisted to me that it must be so, and scoffed at the debunkings. Just for fun, I worked out what would happen in the way of shrinkage with decreasing temperature. Assume iron shot piled on a brass base that’s a meter square. Assume the temperature drops from 40 C (rather hot) to minus 40 C (savagely cold). Relative to the iron shot, the brass base will have shrunk by just over half a millimeter - scarcely enough to make any difference at all.