smart like that

Interesting stuff. But is it correct? Google makes us all instant scholars and the web makes us all instant publishers – but just because something is e-published does not validate it.

Dave Wilton accurately warns against too ready acceptance of “the veneer of sound scholarship (which can) be filled with inaccuracies that only come to light after extended checking. By far, the most common methodological error I find that amateur word sleuths make regards standards of evidence. Someone comes up with a hypothesis that sounds plausible, but fails to back it up with any evidence. Explanations for words or phrases (can be) … interesting, but without actual evidence to support them they cannot be considered correct.”
– see http://www.wordorigins.org/tools

You can see a typical ‘authoritative’ sounding statement of the old story here:
http://www.yacht-volant.org/SailorTalk/seaterms04.html


A succinct repudiation of the naval origins is typically thus:
“Nobody yet knows the origin of this phrase. The story that it relates to
cannonballs stacked on a brass frame on board ship has no historic or
scientific evidence to support it. In particular, the word used for a
cannonball stand was "garland," not "monkey"; garlands were not brass;
and it would be most inconvenient to stack balls in such a way that
ordinary pitching and tossing of the ship would free them.”
– see http://www.alt-usage-english.org/intro_c.html#colden0003

St Michael also casts doubts, though:
http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-bra1.htm

For a further exploration try:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/brass_monkey_more.html

You will notice that various sources state quite categorically that the monkey is:
A gun…
A ship…
A cask…
A pump…
A boy…
A metal plate, Round…
Square…
Triangular…
Flat with circular depressions…
Lipped…
Named after its user…
Named after its maker…
Used aboard ships…
Used only on land…

About the only suggestion not made is the obvious one: that it was a Victorian saying referring to the ‘3 Brass Monkeys’ that were very popular at the time, and based on the obvious alliteration of the ‘b’ sound. No, that’s far too dull…

In summary, what I am saying is caveat emptor!