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Brass Monkey

Posted by Spyinthesky on February 15, 2002

In Reply to: Brass Monkey posted by R. Berg on February 06, 2002

Am I the only person who grew up thinking that this phrase related to the 3 balls outside a pawnbrokers shop? I now understand that brass monkeys were common Victorian ornaments also, usually collected in 3's representing the 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil ' variations. Could there be a link here as it seems to have all the ingredients and connections to lead to such a phrase coming about.

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