Quote:
Originally Posted by dafischer
Cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey.
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Though the origins of this saying are controversial, it is related to military artillery. A brass monkey is the tray that was used to store cannon shot, or "ball" in a battery. Since the ball were iron and the tray (monkey) brass, the coefficient of expansion would allegedly cause the pyramid of ball to topple. Sooo, the proper term would be "cold enough to freeze the "ball" off a brass monkey".