Mack:

Blue blood dates back to the ancient Britons using war-paint made of blue clay called woad. If one's family tree was traceable back to 1066 and beyond, one was clearly a blue-blood. That's my story and I'm stickin;' to it, unless some research proves I am full of it!!

While it is true there was such a thing as a retainer called a brass monkey, it has nothing to do witht he expression and cannonballs. Freezing would tends to make the balls stay ON the brass, not fall out/off.

The bottom drawer and upper crust are suspect to my mind. Why not the upper and lower crusts of a pie, one of which is turned out neat and decorated up and the other merely a carrier of mincemeat?

A-who-is-not-blue-blooded.