My favourite etymology, for one of my favourite sayings. (Please note the the original, and dare I say correct, spelling of favoUrite). "To freeze the balls off a brass monkey." As in, "It was cold enough ..." While the obvious lewd connection with the genitals of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom is what makes this saying great, it is (fortunately for the monkeys) not the original meaning. In the days of pirates, and cannons at sea, the cannon balls were stored on round brass rings to prevent them rolling all over the ship. For reasons unclear, these rings were called monkeys. In cold weather, the brass would shrink, until the ring was no longer capable of preventing the roll of the cannon ball, which would hence fall off. Thus the phrase, to freeze the balls of a brass monkey.