Interesting, yet uselss information...

[steveinaz]

CANNON BALLS!!! DID YOU KNOW THIS?

I CERTAINLY DIDN'T KNOW!!!

It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was a major problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.

The solution was a metal plate with 16 round dimples, called, for reasons unknown, a "Monkey." But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls quickly rusted to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make the plates of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.

Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and contracts more rapidly than iron when chilled.

Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.

Thus, it was quite literally, "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."

[unc2701]

Urban legend.

[billbillw]

Slow day at the office I guess. ;)
Interesting, but UNC is right, Urban legend!
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp

[unc2701]

Huh. Look at that, Snopes used the OED, too. I've got one & "Monkey" as used above wasn't in it. It's sad, but I have yet to use my OED apart to settle bar bets.

Incidentally, but in this case true:
The OED credits the Beastie Boys for coining the term "Mullet" to mean the haircut.

[steveinaz]

...I said "...yet useless information" didn't I?

[candyliquor35m]

I'm waiting on the 'great balls of fire' history lesson :D

[F1nut]

You won't have to wait long.

[zingo]

:D Via Wiki on "Great Balls of Fire":

"The song title is derived from a Southern expression, which some Christians consider blasphemous, that refers to the Pentecost's defining moment when the Holy Spirit manifested itself as "cloven tongues as of fire" and the Apostles spoke in tongues. In the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O'Hara (played by Vivien Leigh) frequently exclaims, "Great balls of fire!""

[Early B.]

I'm waiting on the 'great balls of fire' history lesson :D

Oh, I know this one --

During the Salem witch hunts, there was a cross dressing witch named Winona. No one knew "she" was actually a "he" until they started the fire. Soon enough, the fire caught onto the dress and it quickly revealed that "she" was a "he" when the huge, dangling gonads revealed themsleves to the audience. That's when someone yelled, "Great balls of fire!" And to this day, this phrase is used to denote a shocking revelation.

[shack]

Urban legend.

Not an URBAN legend...but apparently a nautical one with questionable facts.

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm

[petrym]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh!
Prepare to be boarded laddie!

:D

[Music Joe]

R-mail those scurvy lubbers...prepare to Repel boarders!