Mental
Metalurgy
Posted by Word Camel on February
01, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Francophobia
posted by TheUnlurker on February 01, 2002
: : : : : : Can someone
please tell me the origin of the term 'brass monkey'.
: : : : : : A 'brass
monkey' is the term for the base for stacking cannon balls in pyramid shaped stacks
onboard old sailing war ships. The base (brass monkey) was made of brass with
indentations the size of the cannon balls. It prevented the cannon balls from
rolling around when stacked.
: : : : : : Question: why is this base for stacking
cannon balls called a 'brass monkey'?
: : : : : And similarly, is it connected
with the young boys in charge of fetching the gunpowder being called "powder monkeys"?
:
: : : From the archives:
: : : : Monkey: It's cold enough to freeze the balls
from a brass monkey is an expression with slightly genital overtones used to describe
very cold weather. The truth is quite different.
: : : : In the old wooden
Men-of-War the powder was taken from the powder magazine to the gun decks by young
boys. These boys were frequently orphans or waifs taken off the streets. The passages
and stairs along which they carried the powder were so narrow that only boys,
and not men, could get through. They were known as "powder monkeys"; the cannon
balls were stored in brass rings near the guns themselves. By analogy these rings
were called "brass monkeys". On cold days they would contract with the result
that the cannon balls would be squeezed out of the ring - hence the saying.
:
: : Maybe "monkey" was first used to describe a young person because children
are like miniature imitations of adults. Perhaps the term was later applied to
the animal for the same reason, or possibly because the clear distinction between
animals and humans is relatively new historically. (Actually I think there is
a famous story of confused Brits in the in the 17th century, who hanged a wayward
ape they thought was a French Sailor.)
: : : So Bruce's explanation makes sense.
:
: I'm quite sure we Brits hanged the ape with righteous ire. Throughout most of
our history we've felt it a divine duty to tilt at anything that even vaguely
smacks of the Gallic and frankly, I find that strangely comforting.
: What?
Did April 1 fall early this year? Surely Mr Camel and Mr Kahl should know better.
:
Anyone who buys into this cannon-balls on a brass monkey rubbish should look up
the coefficient of expansion of brass (19x10-6/K).
: A brass-bar of length 1
metre @ 50c will shrink to 100 * 19 * 10-6 = 99.998 metres if it moves to a temperature
of MINUS 50c. That tiny .002m difference is INSIGNIFICANT when compared to the
yawing and swaying aboard a seaborne craft.
: Get real and look in the archives.
Mea
culpa. It never occured to me to investigate the coefficient of expansion of brass
and frankly, I'm not qualified to dispute it. But I do know that language isn't
bound by the laws of science, but by human being's imperfect understanding of
them.
Bearing that in mind, I'm keeping an open mind with regard to Bruce's
explanation, at least until something more plausible comes along. I don't find
the Victorian knick knack theory convincing and the Semitic pun explanation, while
interesting, seems a little far fetched from a historical point of view.
Margnanimously
yours,
Camel
Ps. That's "Ms Camel" to you.
|