# How cold is it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 19, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535 "2002-11-19T15:47:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535/1 "2002-11-19T15:47:13Z")

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Recently, I got this from a friend:

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters  
carried iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It  
was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent  
them from rolling about the deck?

The best storage method devised was 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 called a Monkey with 16 round indentations.

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 bails 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 an improper expression, didn’t you?)

However, it appears that this is an Internet chestnut and has been debunked on [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) and other places. I couldn’t find a reference in the SD archives.

So my question is: where did this expression come from? Is it simply the scatological reference that it appears to be or is there an underlying story?  
:eek:

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535/2 "2002-11-19T16:12:09Z")

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[This page](http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/brassmonkeys.htm) says it’s “a legend of the sea without historical justification.” And [this page](http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm) says that they didn’t even use “brass monkeys” as described:

> [@](#):
>
> In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.

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**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535/3 "2002-11-19T16:22:57Z")

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So the bored monkey wood racked their balls?

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**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cold-is-it/137535/4 "2002-11-19T16:44:28Z")

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**scr4** , you forgot [snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.htm)