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Intriguing that you came up with that citation, tsuwm! Now I'm curious as to where the brass in the term came in. I'm not aware that brass monkey sculptures were a popular knick-knac at the time of the coinage, and I've never seen said item with any high-profile collectibility in antique stores or journals. And I guess it would, then, have to be a lawn or garden ornament to be subjected to freezing. I'm also equally unaware that brass is an alloy noted for becoming particularly brittle and prone to fragmentation and/or breaking at freezing temperatures. And so, embarking on my merry googling, I encounted this tasty tidbit: 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.]
It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. 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. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C. Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981): 64. A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1991): 17.
"Brass monkey" is also the nickname for the Cunard Line's house flag which depicts a gold lion rampant on a red field. [Source: Rogers, John. Origins of Sea Terms. (Mystic CT: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1984): 23.] For the first part of the article which gives an interesting account of all the nautical associations with the term "monkey" here's the url: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htmDetermined to find the brass in brass monkey...and, now it suddenly occurs to me, could it have something to do with brass balls?
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I think I found it! And, tsuwm..he quotes the Concise QED as the source! Quoting from the site in excerpt: I am near convinced now that if there is any substance to the popular etymology of the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" as relating to cannonballs, it has nothing to do with _naval_ gunnery at least.
Upping the ante, however, a friend of mine with similar interests, sent me the following in email, early in 1996, which I don't think I ever got round to forwarding to the group:
I have found out what a Brass Monkey is.
According to the Concise OED, the two volume version with four-pages-in-one printed in micro lettering, it is "a kind of gun or cannon." The usage seems to be archaic. The dictionary cites a 1650 book called Art. Rendition Edinbur. Castle as referring to "28 short brass munkeys alias dogs", and a 1663 (1672) publication called Flagellum, O Cromwell as referring to "Twenty eight brass drakes called Monkeys."
How this relates to 'freeze the balls off a brass monkey' is unclear, but [...] Perhaps it is a reference to the coefficient of expansion, ie; if it was very cold, perhaps the muzzle of the cannon was too small to prevent the iron balls from being loaded (differing coefficients of expansion)? I may be stretching the point a bit, but food for thought anyway.
(private email quoted with permission of the author) Here's the url for the full text: http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/brass_monkey_more.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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all I can say, Whitman, is that to keep swallowing all these monkey stories you must be chalcenterous. [ycliu]
p.s., maybe the fact that brass is normally impervious to freezing is meant to add to the effect of saying how very, very cold it is.
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all I can say, Whitman, is that to keep swallowing all these monkey stories you must be chalcenterous. [ycliu]Yeah, thanks tsuwm, that'll go great with my steel wool toilet paper!  And what do you expect from someone in pursuit of cercopithecan fantasies? ycliu figured I might as well go public with this
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Carpal Tunnel
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ceropithecan fantasiesUm...good riposte, but...you want to become a monkey?? Oh, Dear, I'm afraid I'm going to have to rethink our relationship...  psst--you left out a c
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cercopithecan fantasiesThat's it, Jackie! No more bananas for you!!  pssst-you left out a c, mine was there??
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Carpal Tunnel
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 !
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Pooh-Bah
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My monkey went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see
And all that he could see, see, see
Was cercopithecan fantasies, sies, sies.
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Carpal Tunnel
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ah, dear Anna-sparteye is a bonny lass:
My analyze over the ocean,
My analyze over the sea,
My analyze over the ocean,
Oh bring back my anatomy.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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My analyze over the ocean,
My analyze over the sea,
My analyze over the ocean,
Oh bring back my anatomy.Oh, that one's good! THREE points!
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