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	<title type="html"><![CDATA[Noble Realms — Brass Monkey Balls?]]></title>
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	<updated>2005-06-08T18:42:25Z</updated>
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	<id>https://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?id=1822</id>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Re: Brass Monkey Balls?]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="https://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?pid=19082#p19082" />
			<content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>Could it be true?&nbsp; Somewhere I have a site that lists a gazillion expressions and where they came from.&nbsp; Think I&#039;ll check it out.</p><p>Oh my, they actually have it:<br /><a href="http://www.yaelf.com/questions.shtml#rbrssmnkycldnghtfrz">http://www.yaelf.com/questions.shtml#rb … cldnghtfrz</a></p><p>Now I&#039;m sorry I looked.&nbsp; Should&#039;ve left a good joke alone, huh.</p>]]></content>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Soloflecks]]></name>
				<uri>https://forum.noblerealms.org/profile.php?id=108</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2005-06-08T18:42:25Z</updated>
			<id>https://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?pid=19082#p19082</id>
		</entry>
		<entry>
			<title type="html"><![CDATA[Brass Monkey Balls?]]></title>
			<link rel="alternate" href="https://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?pid=19077#p19077" />
			<content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>This is interesting.</p><p>&gt;In&nbsp; George Washington&#039;s days, there were no cameras.<br />&gt;&gt; One&#039;s image&nbsp; was<br />&gt;&gt; either&nbsp; sculpted or painted. Some paintings of<br />&gt;&gt; George&nbsp; Washington<br />&gt;&gt; showed him standing&nbsp; behind a desk with one arm<br />&gt;&gt; behind his&nbsp; back while<br />&gt;&gt; others showed both legs and&nbsp; both arms. Prices<br />&gt;&gt; charged by&nbsp; painters<br />&gt;&gt; were not based on how many people were&nbsp; to be<br />&gt;&gt; painted, but by&nbsp; how many<br />&gt;&gt; limbs were to be painted.&nbsp; &nbsp;Arms and&nbsp; legs are <br />&gt;&gt; &quot;limbs,&quot; therefore<br />&gt;&gt; painting them would cost the buyer&nbsp; more. Hence the <br />&gt;&gt; ___expression.<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;Okay, but it&#039;ll cost you an arm and a&nbsp; leg.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; As&nbsp; incredible as it sounds, men and women took<br />&gt;&gt; baths only twice a<br />&gt;&gt; year!&nbsp; (May and October) Women kept their hair<br />&gt;&gt; covered, while men<br />&gt;&gt; shaved&nbsp; their&nbsp; heads (because of lice and bugs) and<br />&gt;&gt; wore wigs. Wealthy<br />&gt;&gt; men could&nbsp; afford good&nbsp; wigs made from wool. The<br />&gt;&gt; wigs couldn&#039;t be<br />&gt;&gt; washed, so to&nbsp; clean them they could&nbsp; carve out a<br />&gt;&gt; loaf of bread, put<br />&gt;&gt; the wig in the&nbsp; shell, and bake it for 30&nbsp; minutes.<br />&gt;&gt; The heat would make<br />&gt;&gt; the wig big and&nbsp; fluffy, hence the term &quot;big&nbsp; wig.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; Today we often use<br />&gt;&gt; the term &quot;here&nbsp; comes the Big Wig&quot;&nbsp; because someone<br />&gt;&gt; appears to be or is<br />&gt;&gt; powerful and&nbsp; wealthy.<br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; In the late&nbsp; 1700s, many houses consisted of a large<br />&gt;&gt; room with only!<br />&gt;&gt; one chair. Commonly,&nbsp; a long wide board was folded<br />&gt;&gt; down from the wall and<br />&gt;&gt; used for&nbsp; dining.&nbsp; The &quot;head of the household&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; always sat in the chair<br />&gt;&gt; while&nbsp; everyone else&nbsp; ate sitting on the floor. Once<br />&gt;&gt; in a while, a<br />&gt;&gt; guest (who was&nbsp; almost&nbsp; always a man) would be<br />&gt;&gt; invited to sit in this<br />&gt;&gt; chair during a meal. To&nbsp; sit in the chair meant you<br />&gt;&gt; were important and<br />&gt;&gt; in charge. Sitting in the&nbsp; chair, one was called the<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;chair man.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; Today in business we use the&nbsp; ___expression or title<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;Chairman or<br />&gt;&gt; Chairman of the&nbsp; Board.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; Needless&nbsp; to&nbsp; say, personal hygiene left much room<br />&gt;&gt; for improvement.<br />&gt;&gt; As a result, many&nbsp; women and men had developed acne<br />&gt;&gt; scars by<br />&gt;&gt; adulthood. The women would&nbsp; spread&nbsp; bee&#039;s wax over<br />&gt;&gt; their facial skin to<br />&gt;&gt; smooth out their&nbsp; complexions. When they&nbsp; were<br />&gt;&gt; speaking to each other,<br />&gt;&gt; if a woman began to&nbsp; stare at another woman&#039;s&nbsp; face<br />&gt;&gt; she was told &quot;mind<br />&gt;&gt; your own bee&#039;s wax.&quot;&nbsp; Should the woman&nbsp; smile, the<br />&gt;&gt; wax would crack,<br />&gt;&gt; hence the term &quot;crack a&nbsp; smile.&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp;Also, when they<br />&gt;&gt; sat too close to<br />&gt;&gt; the fire, the wax would&nbsp; melt and&nbsp; therefore the<br />&gt;&gt; ___expression&nbsp; &quot;losing<br />&gt;&gt; face.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; Ladies&nbsp; wore corsets that were laced up in the<br />&gt;&gt; front. A tightly<br />&gt;&gt; tied Lace was&nbsp; worn by&nbsp; a proper and dignified lady<br />&gt;&gt; as in&nbsp; &quot;straight<br />&gt;&gt; laced.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; Common&nbsp; entertainment included playing cards.<br />&gt;&gt; However, there was a<br />&gt;&gt; tax levied&nbsp; when&nbsp; purchasing playing cards, but only<br />&gt;&gt; applicable to the<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;ace of&nbsp; Spades&quot; To avoid paying the tax, people<br />&gt;&gt; would purchase 51<br />&gt;&gt; cards&nbsp; instead.&nbsp; Yet, since most games require 52<br />&gt;&gt; cards, these people<br />&gt;&gt; were&nbsp; thought to be stupid or dumb because they<br />&gt;&gt; weren&#039;t &quot;playing with a<br />&gt;&gt; full&nbsp; deck.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; Early&nbsp; politicians required feedback from the public<br />&gt;&gt; to determine<br />&gt;&gt; what was&nbsp; considered important to the people. Since<br />&gt;&gt; there were no<br />&gt;&gt; telephones,&nbsp; TVs, or&nbsp; radios, the politicians sent<br />&gt;&gt; their assistants to<br />&gt;&gt; local taverns,&nbsp; pubs, and bars,&nbsp; who were told to<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;go sip some ! ale&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; and listen to&nbsp; people&#039;s&nbsp; conversations and political<br />&gt;&gt; concerns. Many<br />&gt;&gt; assistants were&nbsp; dispatched at&nbsp; different times.<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;You go sip here&quot; and<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;You go sip&nbsp; there.&quot; The two words &quot;go sip&quot; were<br />&gt;&gt; eventually combined<br />&gt;&gt; when&nbsp; referring to the local opinion and, thus we<br />&gt;&gt; have the&nbsp; term<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;gossip.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; At&nbsp; local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from<br />&gt;&gt; pint and quart<br />&gt;&gt; sized&nbsp; containers.&nbsp; &nbsp;A barmaid&#039;s job was to keep an<br />&gt;&gt; eye on&nbsp; the<br />&gt;&gt; customers&nbsp; and keep the drinks coming. She had to<br />&gt;&gt; pay close&nbsp; attention<br />&gt;&gt; and remember who&nbsp; was drinking in &quot;pints&quot; and who<br />&gt;&gt; was drinking&nbsp; in<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;quarts,&quot;&nbsp; hence the term &quot;minding your Ps and&nbsp; Qs.&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br />&gt;&gt; Also,&nbsp; bet&nbsp; you didn&#039;t know this!!!!<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; In&nbsp; the heyday of sailing&nbsp; ships, all war ships and<br />&gt;&gt; many freighters<br />&gt;&gt; carried iron&nbsp; cannons. Those&nbsp; cannons fired round<br />&gt;&gt; iron cannon balls. It<br />&gt;&gt; was necessary to&nbsp; keep a good&nbsp; supply near the<br />&gt;&gt; cannon, but how to<br />&gt;&gt; prevent them from rolling&nbsp; about the&nbsp; deck?<br />&gt;&gt; <br />&gt;&gt; The best storage method devised was a square based<br />&gt;&gt; pyramid&nbsp; with one ball<br />&gt;&gt; on top,&nbsp; resting on four resting on nine, which<br />&gt;&gt; rested on&nbsp; sixteen.<br />&gt;&gt; Thus, a supply ! of&nbsp; 30 cannon balls could be<br />&gt;&gt; stacked in a&nbsp; small area<br />&gt;&gt; right next to the cannon.&nbsp; There was only one<br />&gt;&gt; problem how to&nbsp; prevent<br />&gt;&gt; the bottom layer from sliding or&nbsp; rolling from under<br />&gt;&gt; the&nbsp; others.<br />&gt;&gt; The solution was a metal plate called a &quot;Monkey&quot;<br />&gt;&gt; with 16&nbsp; round<br />&gt;&gt; indentations. But, if this plate were made of iron,<br />&gt;&gt; the iron&nbsp; balls<br />&gt;&gt; would&nbsp; quickly rust to it.<br />&gt;&gt; The solution to the rusting&nbsp; problem was to make<br />&gt;&gt; &quot;Brass Monkeys.&quot; Few<br />&gt;&gt; landlubbers realize that brass&nbsp; contracts much more<br />&gt;&gt; and much faster<br />&gt;&gt; than iron&nbsp; when&nbsp; chilled.<br />&gt;&gt; Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far,<br />&gt;&gt; the&nbsp; brass!<br />&gt;&gt; indentations would shrink&nbsp; so much that the iron<br />&gt;&gt; cannon balls&nbsp; would<br />&gt;&gt; come right off the monkey.<br />&gt;&gt; Thus, it was quite literally, &quot;Cold&nbsp; enough to<br />&gt;&gt; freeze the balls off a<br />&gt;&gt; Brass&nbsp; Monkey&quot;. (And all this time, you&nbsp; thought<br />&gt;&gt; that was an improper<br />&gt;&gt; __expression, didn&#039;t&nbsp; you?)<br />&gt;&gt;</p>]]></content>
			<author>
				<name><![CDATA[Sheesh]]></name>
				<uri>https://forum.noblerealms.org/profile.php?id=457</uri>
			</author>
			<updated>2005-06-08T12:51:20Z</updated>
			<id>https://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic.php?pid=19077#p19077</id>
		</entry>
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