Balls to the wall!
I’ve been going “balls to the wall” with my lessons… but can a girl really go “balls to the wall”?
Let’s find out.
Author: HotForWords
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The Bell in the beginning is BALLS TO THE WALL…you girl, are the brass ball
Oh, hear is Accept – Balls to the Wall, with lyrics
“Ball to the walls” I think most People use this term in a sexual context to mean His Ball to walls Of her Vagina.
It’s cute the way her pigtails shake under the hat. A lot of other women try to hate on her and her style. The hotforprofits girl is ripping her style but it’s just good flattery.
The reference to the “speed governor” in Marina’s video of having the balls swing out at full speed is often referred to as “balls out” meaning “full speed”. “balls to the wall” refers to the airplane engine throttle handles, or “balls” being pushed to the “firewall”, the wal between the pilot and the engine. Hence, “balls to the wall”. “Balls out” and “Balls to the wall” both mean “Full Speed” or “Max Effort”.
“Freeze the balls off of a brass monkey’ refers to a temperature so cold as to freeze the private parts in question off of a brass monkey. (If I recall correctly.) There is another phrase used to describe extremely cold weather, ‘As cold as a whitch’s tit in a brass cup.’.
Eric M
My brother is from the great state of Michigan. Their state of mind differs from us down here in Indiana.
Anyway, I learned from him that “balls to the wall” apparently is when the cop slams you into the wall. Except this one guy… yeah. Hence.
But there are other expressions to this end. I only know the one: “Get out without a hitch (or whatever) or the cops will bust your…” yeah.
Spanish women call each other “hombre” in conversation in every conversation; English men derogatorily call each other “c*nts.”
In the US, I don’t think expressions like “to have balls” or “to be ballsy” are specific to men. “To have balls” means to be daring, or audacious, which women can certainly be too.
So, for example it makes perfect sense to say that you, Marina, must “have balls” to do what you are doing: putting yourself in front of the whole world to be criticized or applauded. It’s a great quality in a woman–having balls, metaphorically speaking of course!
lostforwords
This is a funny one too! I laughed a lot at this one. More and more humor, please Marina.
Okay, here is a question: why do the British spell neighbor, color, and humor: neighbour, colour, and humour?
Accept
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I heard that “freezing the balls off a brass monkey” refered to those objects that used to hang out side Pawn brokers shops many years ago, which comprised of three brass balls and were I believe called brass monkeys. The story goes that when it was freezing cold the welding that fixed the balls to the support would crack and come undone and the balls would go crashing down to the pavement (or sidewalk in USA) below.
Hence freezing the balls off a brass monkey.
hi
i have been flying varies airplanes for 25 years as well as currently being an airline captain now. i have never heard the term balls to the wall as an aviation term. i have used the term fire walled. which means pushing the throttles as far forward as possible to the stops or firewall. on light aircraft the engine is separated from the cabin by a wall that protects from fire. called a firewall. Now 30-60 years ago some of the propeller engine aircraft had balls on the end of the throttle. since i was a boy i thought the term came from steam engines.
Steam engines had mechanical regulators that consisted of a pair of hinged lever arms with a ball on the end of each arm, as the engine sped up the centrifugal force caused the arms to raise up closing a valve. If you adjust the regulator so that the arms go to horizontal (with the balls pointing to the wall) without closing the valve you are not limiting the speed of the engine. hence the term balls to the wall. i believe since steam engines and that term have been around since the 1700’s the term goes to it not airplanes
thank you
justfred1
What about the word, cahoots? It’s always plural, and someone is always in it. They are never under, on, over, or around it. They are never in it alone either. They are always in it with someone else. So what is cahoots exactly?
When I was in the Navy, the expression we used was “going balls out” which ties in more with the speed governor on the train, or any other machine as they still exist in a modified form in modern jet engines.
The explanation I was given for the expression all those years ago had to do with the feeling of your eyeballs popping out of your head under extreme G forces when dogfighting.
Hello Marina, I actually have two questions for you! If you would respond to them I would be very pleased.
#1
Since you’ve got such a great body, and all the pictures of you are very very good, is it so that you are or have been a proffesional model? Just think you fit the pictures very well! You’re actually the most beautifull woman I’ve ever seen :S
#2
How do you actually find the origins of all the words that people requests? I know you don’t just “google” them;p But which metod do you take in use? Would be funny to know.
Your videos is really teaching me alot about different words!
I’m really greatful that you’ve made such videos that doesn’t actually just consist of a “dumb blondy showing boobs” but rather a smart, intelectual beautiful mature woman:D
It’s a fact that you have thousand and thousand of fans to respond to, but would be great if you could reply to this comment!
Thanks,
Håvard (Howard^^)
From Norway!
howie123, I just took a bunch of pictures.. and didn’t know what to do with them.. now I’m using them
As for the process… I look at the requests… then try to find the ones that will make a good story… then I look up the origins first in the Oxford English Dictionary (the most reliable source).. then I look in a series of books to back up what’s in the OED… I have some etymology books… then I go on the Internet and see how people are getting the etymologies wrong (on wikipedia for example) and if there are enough wrong answers.. then I make a game out of the origin.
Once I find a word it takes me about 2 hours to fact check each one.. and then write a script.. then fact check again. It’s very time consuming.. because even after I fact-check then record the video, edit and upload.. I STILL get barraged with nay-sayers.. and then I find myself re-checking everything for the 4th or 5th time… because people are SO adamant in their beliefs at times. It’s almost a religion to them. Imagine your whole life being told that cops got their name from the copper badges.. and then I come along and tell you that’s not where it came from! You would HATE me for that!
I was kinda hoping that somebody makes the scripts and does the research for you
Because that means you have a huge brain AND make sense of the research by yourself AND possess the cutest accent ever AND look drop-dead gorgeous – other women have NOTHING on you! 
You can see the work that goes into your videos. It’s interesting to see how you do the research. I get a lot of my information from my trusty Petit Robert, a French dictionary. A lot of times, my English dictionary will just say that a word has been borrowed from, or derives from, the French word. So I go to my Petit Robert to get the rest of the story. Anyway, you do great work. I’m an avid fan!
Dear Hotforwords,
Where did the term “Blue Balls” come from? I understand it’s an expression used to describe Certain kinds of Frustrations… But then, shouldn’t Lottery Balls be blue too!? The Lottery is terribly frustrating.
politricks5
Dear Marina,
A word:
Where did the name for the Sandpiper, Godwit(as in Bar-tailed Godwit or Hudsonian Godwit) come from?
Thanks.
C.
I am under the impression that the origin of the word godwit is the same as the origin of ‘curlew’: it’s echoic. In other words, these two birds are what we call “name-sayers.” They are named this because it’s what we think we hear them saying when they call. cur-LOOOO, cur-LOOOO! godWIT godWIT WIT WIT WIT!
BTW, are you a long-billed or a bristle-thighed?
Hiii
I would make a request for the word: Noob….. It’s a word young people use now a days….. Do you know when they started using this word, and for what reason?
Would be nice to know
By the way, you’re awesome 
Hi SABIHA (Maltese word for beautiful),
There is a word/initials? that has stumped me. It is UXB. Maybe it means UneXploredBoobs
. Love your shows & everything about you. Keep it up. I know I will!
Love You.
Vince
Привет. Пожалуйста простите мне. Я могу говорить на очень плохом русском языке. Но я учусь. Я – американец, живущий в Германии. Я иду в Ирак на следующей неделе. Я люблю ваши видео, и люблю говорить людям происхождение слов. Вы красивы, и Вы заставляете меня хотеть быть Филологом. Было бы хорошо, так как мое название – Фил.
if your russian is very bad, and if you’re an american living in germany — why would you write russian on here?
don’t you think it’s kind of inappropriate and even impolite to the non-russian speakers?
(the white horse riders will tell you — in addition to some worshippy things — that she’s never answered in russian.)
besides, kinda strange to use the formal form of adress.
anyway, good luck in iraq. may you get back well.
Hello Marina,
I was wondering about the word, “Lazy Susan” comes from
It is actually a round rotating shelf in the corner cupboard that you spin.
I would love it if you picked my word!
Sorry, didn’t see pupil on the list
I have another word I want you to explain the origin of instead:
(a) rocket
I hope you can help me finding the origion of that word atleast:)
hello,
Could yo please let me know what “whine up” means and were does it come from.
Hélène from France
Je ne connais pas cette expression, et je suis 100% yankee !!!
Translation: I don’t know this expression, and I’m 100% yankee !!! . . . . I’d be interested in learning about this. Thanks, Hélène, for an interesting suggestion. Merci.
hello,
It’s the title of one of KAT DELUNA’s song (see you tube.) I can guess what it means thanks to the video but I’m not really sure… please help!
Your French is good Lividemerald. Byebye
Hello Marina!
Love your videos, have learned quite much from them. Seen everyone.
But, anyways
I actually have two word requests:)
1: (a) peacock (the bird with many colours and “eyes” on its tale)
and
2: (a) pupil (both meanings really, both the name on those attending to a school and the thing in the middle of your eye)
Would be great if you could explain the origin of these two words!
Thanks
I think that your rating have gone through the roof
Where did that saying come from ? from your friend
(redneckforwords)
Marina, you are truly a “wizard” of words, so if I knew the origin of wizard it would be “another mystery solved” for me. Chief
I have wached alot of HotForWords now… and my word I’d like you to investigate is… INVESTIGATE.
xxxx <3 It’ll be much appreciated if Hot for words could find this out
Here are some other sayings you might want to investigate:
Dry as a witch’s tit in the desert.
Drier than a nun’s nasty.
Colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra, doing pushups in a snow bank.
Colder than a well digger’s ass
Darker than the inside of a cow
Loose as a goose
Jumping Jehosephat
Heavens to Mergatroid
Christ on a Bicycle!
Full of piss and vinegar
Marina,
This is hilarious. I used this phrase when it was really cold a few weeks ago, and some friends got a kick out of it. It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off of a brass monkey!
Maybe you can also check on “colder than a witches tit in a brass bra” and “colder than a well-digger’s ass” – those are other equally colorful cold-weather idioms.
Brass monkey has to do with actual brass monkeys sold in the 19th century as souvenirs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_(colloquial_expression)#cite_note-0
You are the best Marina!
Love,
Eric
dear MARINA–thanks for “cop”.i thought it was the copper badge.what about —automobile. thank you.tom kosky.staten island,n.y.
You know, for a woman going “balls to the wall” I pictured different balls – those also referred to as peas, oranges or melons depending on there size.
And on a sidenote, what’s that with women and fruit, anyway?
You mean what’s up with MEN equating parts of a woman, or entire women themselves as consumables of some sort or other…You know, like Hi Honey, I’m home…or calling them sweetie-pie, cupcake, sugar lips, what a dish, tomato, tall drink of water, etc. or referring to their various body parts as buns, jugs, [lips like cherries], melons, hairpie, furburger, etc.
Kinda makes you think some men might view women as objects to be sampled, bought, owned and eventually consumed, wouldn’t you agree? But not us, of course…
Well, that’s one explanation. Another possibility is that men simply really like food (there’s a proverb about thinking with the stomach, and male love going through the stomach), and so food gets used to describe the other thing men really like, namely women. It could possibly be rooted in the primal male urges.
one: women use those expressions, too.
two:
i) object =df. a thing, an entity, or a being [...], things located somehow in space and time — minds and bodies, for instance. (–> source.)
ii) object =df. A single, identifiable unit or entity. An object can comprise other, smaller objects. (–> source.)
so, women are objects. like each and every other entity. including men.
Hi Marina,
My mother used to always level this rejonder my way:
“Don’t be so persnickety!”
So, I thought we might go into the origins of that word…
Okay…since we’re on that subject…Let’s try “Panty melter”…LOL!!!…I think this one will get a rave review…Real…Oh!..”rave review” that’s another one…NAH!!!…that one’s boring…yes, I’m a dotmologist…
Yeah, panty melter is a fairly new one. It came about only after the advent of commercially-available fruit roll-ups, or sometime around the mid- to late-70s. These are flat pieces of dried fruit juice that can be fashioned into flexible shapes, meaning they could then be made into edible panties by some forward-thinking salesperson who made the connection between high-profit naughty novelties, women, food, fashion, convenience (you can eat the evidence), clothing, and the perennial urge to merge.
Hi Marina:
I remember this term, “balls to the wall,” in the navy for when a ship was making sharp turns at sea during drills. It referred to the fact that you’d be slammed against a wall during these times.(There were no women on warships at that time.)
What is a cocktail? is it a tail about a cock, or where does it come from? and 1 more.. What does there have to take before a.. song becomes classic or a movie?. thank you Marina!
Send One to All Your Friends Who You Think Deserve A Hug (Which, Hopefully Includes the Person Who Sent It to You) ! !
You might send it to your enemies as well!
It’ll really make them stop & Think!!!
If you don’t receive this back, nobody likes you, and they wish you’d stop bugging them!
If you receive this back 1 time, open up! Find more friends, enemies, or enemies pretending to be friends
If you receive this back 2 times . You’re off to a good start, unless you sent it to yourself. That’s cheating!
If you receive this back 3 times. You’re a good friend.
If you receive this back 4 times. You are truely loved as a friend!!
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My dear Marina,
I just watched your podcast about the word “pink.” It reminded me that I have had a very similar question about the word “orange.” Did the orange get its name because it is colored orange? Or did the color get its name because of the color of the orange?
Love your show!
Most DeF AlwaYs Balls to The Wall! ; Off the ChAIN, & OfF THe MeTeR! ThaTs hOw I Live…
Hey Marina!
I LOOOOOOOVE your videos! They are so funny & cool!
So the word I would like to request is the word “Soviet”!
Where did this word come from? I mean, I know it was the USSR, but is it related to a family or a political party? I’ve just ALWAYS wondered this & nobody could EVER give me a realistic answer! Do you think you can help? Thanks sweetie!
<3<3<3
Virtuosity
I almost forgot one other interesting word that appears related:
Occult
I’m a bit curious about the etymology of a few words and their relationship:
Cult
Culture (A civilization’s way of life)
Culture (A sampling of bacteria)
Cultivate
THE GIRL IS JUST PLAIN
HOT
I’ll second sephiro12 and say that the last 20 seconds are a treat. I will differentiate myself, however, from the other male members, most of whomI suspect only enjoy watching the montage of your pictures.
I really like the fact that you decided to use Ronald Jenkees’ newest song (as of 3/31/2008, 2:25am EST) as your background music (though I actually enjoy the version in his video a little more than his partially recorded one because the xylophone sound is a little passive for such an intense song – I do, however, prefer the crunch on the guitar sample in his recorded edition). I love his YouTube channel and his album and hope that you continue to sample his music (with his permission, of course) in your videos (I’m sure you’ve got the charm to convince him… plus it’s good publicity for him, especially if he makes it onto your Maxim radio show)
So my questions for you are:
—Do you had a modeling and/or photography background? (they seem to be nice photographs)
—Are you a professional or did you take those yourself? (if so then you’re highly skilled or else spent a lot of time messing around with the timer or Photo Booth lol)
marina that was outstanig vido hugs &kisses to the teacher.
dear teacher,
did you know there is a mountain named after you? it is in Saranac Lake, NY. it is known as Mount Ampersand. it is very beautiful, like you!
fyshdoc
xxoo
there’s also a Van Halen song….. oh never mind
Putting my tongue away, wiping up my drool, and backing away from the keyboard lol
Marina! please learn us the origing word of AMERICA – what does it mean, because i have red in Stephan Zveig ( Magellan Trip) about very intresting and specific origing of this word.
BR form Moscow
Origin should be a guy named Americo Vespucchi (spelling?).
Skipped a lesson, hu? You naughty naughty person!
amerigo vespucci.
Congratulations on getting to 50,000 YouTube subscribers!
I think it’s just a matter of time before you become the most subscribed of all time on YouTube!
Since I am writing this remark beneath yours, I suppose I am subscribing….
Balls to the walls kind of reminds me of “put the pedal to the metal.” Alliteration is an important key to an expresson’s longevity.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but these are merely rhymes, not alliteration.
Alliteration occurs when you start each active word in a phrase with the same letter or sound (phoneme). Literally, it can be thought of as a “Series of Similar Sounds.”
But you are correct in noting that it can be an important instrument in memory retention. Otherwise, who would ever have remembered that greatest of all classic kid’s choruses:
great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat
dirty turdy birdie feet, etc….?
Actually, I learned about alliteration when I was studying French. In French, alliteration can also refer to consonants that are within words. In the French sense, my statement about “put the pedal to the metal” is correct. I admit, though, that my English language dictionary doesn’t mention interior consonants. So I may be guilty of error on American shores. I wonder if France will take an etymological refugee?
I am seeing “red herring” used a lot . How about a lesson ?
You’re confusing my hunting dogs! Stop it with the fish, already!
“Red herring” refers to the practice of dragging something smelly along the ground in order to throw the dogs off your scent trail. They typically follow the food. Another variant of this is the expression “That’s just bacon over the trail!” used the same way. In other words, someone has raised an objection to your argument by making reference to some unverified rumor, conjecture, or even using an unrelated subject or drawing a completely improbable comparison in order to divert attention away from whatever point was being made.
“There’s a limit to how many times you can read how great you are and what an inspiration you are, but I’m not there yet.” – Randy Pausch 1960-
Are you there yet Marina?
I hope not, because I think your fans have alot more adoration to give.
This was the quote of the day on the lower right corner of your website. BTW – where do these quotes come from? Do you pick them or are they just from some 3rd-party plugin?
Since this is in reference to “balls to the wall,” are these Test posts or Testes posts?
Woops! Marina’s Test posts have disappeared into thin air (of course, air density depends on altitude). Balls!
hey teach,
yeah good advice. ” in everything u do go balls to the walls”…
Dear Marina,
I think that the subject of your last video is referred to as an “idiom”: – an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements(American Heritage Dictionary).
Here are some other idioms that baffle me:
- a feather in your cap
- All roads lead to Rome
- arm’s length transaction
- as fit as a fiddle
- as happy as a clam
- assist in the French sense
- at sixes and sevens
and Marina, are there similar idioms in Russian, like “All roads lead to St. Petersburg”, or, “Fit as a Balalaika” ?
Teach me, Teacher Marina.
Пока
Dear Teacher
BALLS TO THE WALL (I’ll bet) has to do with the balls of the FEET being “up against the wall” (as in backed up against the wall).
I didn’t look that up. I’m just guessing.
Hope you liked my painting
I have a pet porcupine also. She’s stuffed. I hit her on the highway one morning at 5am. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being wasted.
Thanks for another wonderful lesson and for cheering up my cold and snowy day in Laramie
Now, I ask women in bars if they want to “come to my place and pet my porcupine”- not!
Hi Marina,
another +5 and getting better all the time. Good advice too.I dont know about balls to the wall but you always have great responses to look over. One exception here tonight is sephiro12. I pose the question where are your walls? What is your comfort level without them. Why do countrys have borders? You must be more enlightened than them. I do love latinos and have volunteered for over three years volunteering to at risk youth who are all latinos. Your coment about idiots seems to warrant a reply but I dont want to change the beautiful tone of this forum. Please think about it. lots of love, David.
Um, I don’t think you understood my comment correctly… I was saying that it is idiotic to build a wall. I’m plenty comfortable without walls… if that’s what you’re asking me?
roofs going to fall on your head.
Hey where did the expression “bakers dozen” originate from
Great lesson by the way
HeavenandHellplease.
Another great lesson. thanks.5*—Great balls of Fire
I was wondering if you could do sign symptom and symbol please
I know nothing of these frozen monkey balls, although I am familiar with being colder than a well digger’s arse.
“Colder than a gravedigger’s butt” was the way I heard it.
What are the origins of “shingdig” and “shmendrick”? Also “dachshund”. Thanks!
“Dachshund” literally translates from German as “badger dog” because they were originally bred for hunting badgers. “Hund” in German means “dog”, and “dachs” means “badger”. Dachshunds are long so that they could dig into badger holes and chase them out.
How to make a brass monkey while listening to brass monkey.
1 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. Light Rum
1/2 oz. Galliano
4 oz. orange juice
Hey Marina, I love your videos! I started watching them in the beginning and it’s been cool to see them slowly evolve into what they are now. By the way, nice addition with what the last 20 seconds of the newest videos has been, haha. Anyway, I was thinking that maybe you could (if you want to) start teaching us a word of Russian or a phrase in Russian each video as well! It might be that I really like languages, but I think that would be SO interesting!
On another note, I think a lot of people would like to know more about you. That video with your G4 appearance told us more about you than we’ve learned in the entire time you’ve been on YouTube! But maybe you just want to be private.
Freeze the balls off is an expression who come of navy for a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey’s extremities.The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships.
Where come the expression “Silence is Golden“?
Cia dear prof!
Where did these two words derive from: Fastidious and Anal retentive? I know that both are similar but I love to see what you dig up as far as their origin.
Spacibo,
Ramon
motoman;
In Webster’s, Fastidious = Meticulously attentive to details…exacting…difficult to please. My very limited knowledge of Sigmund Freud’s theories of personality development in children seems to me to be peculiarly focused on some strange ideas like; the sexual arousal of the child from breast-feeding from his mother, and gratification from “holding it in” when its time to poop. So, if I remember this right from psych 101, if you are a “pain in the ass” to others because you take forever to get everything just perfect when perfection adds no value to the project, then. according to Freud, when you were a child you were likely to give yourself a pain in your own ass by holding in a load while you toddled around the playroom. For me, I know that there have been times driving on the Interstate with clammy hands, or standing in line at the DMV in a cold sweat, when I guess being anal retentive might come in handy. Better than the alternative, huh?
Is this Marina? Hey, thanks for the reply but you did not cover the definition and origin of anal retentive.
Thanks (spacibo, (spelling?) Russian for thanks)
Ramon
Freud is wrong, Jung is right.
Marina my dear lovely teacher, may I raise my hand to request you investigate where the phrase of ‘on my\your dime’, meaning the person pays for whatever it is one is doing.
Thank you very much for your lessons, I’ve just added your feed to my RSS reader so I’ll get the lessons to me faster.
‘MUAH’….bye-bye….
It’s me or the cup says “Yo Latina”? She is the complete opposite of a latin woman
But, the americans doesn’t like latins at all and they sell that cups… this is complete strange
Russians are always stereotyping nationalities. I can say that because U.S. Americans are hypocrites.
Yes, maybe we stereotype nationalities but , the way i see it, isn’t bad at all, you recognize the country or people for their culture, like Brazil with Football, or Spain with Paella.However it doen’t mean that every single Brazilian plays football or Every Spaniard eats Paella
But we can’t say that american like latins while they are building up a “wall” between Mexico and the U.S.
Um, they’re actually not “building” a wall. What it was was that there were some “idiots” who “proposed” “building” a wall.
americans are not stoopid.
I feel like I’m wasting my time responding to this, but the “survey data” recounted in that article must be wildly inaccurate. There is absolutely no way that 20% of people think that the Sun revolves around the Earth. The other ones are equally as ridiculous. I can also assure you that the young man, for example, who couldn’t locate the Berlin Wall was either paid to do so or was a complete idiot; either way, it’s a total misrepresentation of the U.S.
In any case, these odd and likely contrived or poorly executed surveys could be conducted in any country with similar results. In fact, why don’t you go to Bangladesh and see what you find?
million passengers.
sing along.
Gawd damn it, dick cheney stop fucking with my shit!
aThere are 303 million passengers.
asing along.
This is obviously a sign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExyRMqX8eOA
http://www.lyricsdir.com/tom-waits-gods-away-on-business-lyrics.html
Now I have delete all this shit from my own damn email.
delete this one, too.
and this one.
and this.
and.
You puddle of piss! I hate you. Really hate you.
Damn, I just sent another email to myself. Go to hell you, you german!
I …
know …
you …
don’t …
really …
mean …
it.
Oh, fuck off! I have head phones on and the email keeps dinging! stop it!
sry, man. didn’t know that. :/
Stop bothering the stoopid people!
God is an american.
where did “fatcat” come from?
“Freezing the balls off a brass monkey” derives from the fact that there were brass frames on the decks of ships that would hold the cannon balls in place. The frames were referred to as a brass monkey. The brass monkey would hold the cannon balls by being just tall enough to chock the balls and keep them from rolling. The balls were either lead or some metal other than brass and thus would shrink differently as the temperature decreased. So as the temperature decreased the brass monkey would shrink enough that it was no longer tall enough to keep the balls chocked in place, allowing the balls to roll freely. Thus the term “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”. Quite a maritime problem back in the day.
Don’t forget that when water freezes it expands, often forcing things apart (in geologic terms, this is called “frost wedging”). And, at really low temperatures the spray off the waves can also build up quite a thick layer of ice on anything exposed to the weather when a ship is at sea in winter. In calmer seas a uniform coating of ice could help keep the cannonballs from rolling across the deck by allowing them to stick together; at other times the motion of the ship in high seas could rattle them enough to allow any moisture to freeze between them & force them slowly apart until they were too big to fit inside the brass retainers.
There used to be something that held Cannon Balls stable on a ship so they wouldnt roll around and would be readily available when they were needed. It is commonly thought that this is where the phrase came from…but that just doesnt make sense.
One possibility is mentioned on Wikipedia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, small monkeys cast from the alloy brass were very common tourist souvenirs from China and Japan. They usually, but not always, came in a set of three representing the Three Wise Monkeys carved in wood above the Shrine of Toshogu in Nikkō, Japan. These monkeys were often cast with all three in a single piece. In other sets they were made singly. Although three was the usual number, some sets of monkeys added a fourth, with its hand covering its genitals, which may have given rise to, or contributed to, the current form of the expression.
Another 5 star lesson!
I had no idea of the real origin of this phrase.
Is it just a coincidence that you are wearing a pink top and black sweater similar to what Lisa Nova was wearing??
Oh yeah.. pretty funny.. didn’t notice that JD!
NICE
I am looking for the origin to the word “equine” or “equestrian”. Could you help me out? Greatly appreciated!!
Sounds Greek to me,,,, in a unique way of course.
equine=horse, bovine=cow, porcine=pig, canine=dog, feline=cat, etc.
They are all Latin-based, possibly going back to ancient Greek.
that was a beavis sound!
bullet The Truth
According to the United States Navy Historical Center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification. The center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term “brass monkey” and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey’s extremities, appears to have originated in the book “Before the Mast” by C.A. Abbey. It was said that it was so cold that it would “freeze the tail off a brass monkey.” The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon balls.