Chris - Funny story, but not true. Have you ever gone around a corner in your Vanagon (RVC) at a good rate of speed? Heels over pretty good, doesn't it? Same thing happens on a sailing ship with the wind from any quarter other than straight aft. Piling things up isn't a good plan, especially cannon balls. Think about a strong breeze from starboard and three foot waves, and watch your feet! IIRC the urban legends sites said there was no well defined source for the 'Freeze the balls off a brass monkey' statement. Not quite sure why you consider it dirty, though. I keep my brass well polished. - Mike Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 12:09:09 EST From: JordanVw@AOL.COM Subject: friday humor (NVC whatsoever) (f) this was fwd to me, thought it was funny.. chris > 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 thirty 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 sixteen round indentations. But, if this plate was > made of=A0 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 dirty expression, didn't you?)
Mike Finkbiner mike_l_f@hotmail.com
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