The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17090   Message #163100
Posted By: Amaranth
14-Jan-00 - 10:14 PM
Thread Name: BS: It's so cold that...
Subject: RE: BS: It's so cold that...
it'll freeze the balls off a brass monkey...and before anyone gets too upset, this expression goes back to the time of Frobisher and Arctic exploration. British ships carried cannon balls on a rack made of brass, called a brass monkey. When the temperature went low enough the rack would contract enough that the balls would fall off.