BRASS MONKEY TIME
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.. It's just 41 degrees below zero and the false dawn is cracking a bit over the Madison River Notch in Yellowstone National Park. Another beautiful day in paradise... The origin of the "Brass Monkey" phrase is speculative and attributed variously to vulgar usage, brass cannons, and tourism trinkets bought in the Orient.
.. Another, most commonly offered, theory is that it's a nautical term and refers to a brass ring or tray on a "Man O' War" that held stacked up cannon balls. When the temperature dropped below freezing
the metal "monkey"contracted and the cannon balls rolled off, hence freeze the balls off a brass monkey... A commonly suggested origin is that the familiar pawn broker emblem was originally made of brass, and called a monkey.
.. See Wikipedia for a discussion of these and other theories of origin.
.. The phrase, although common in the U.S.A. appears to be more widely used in Australia and New Zealand. [[ You can buy a brass monkey freeze indicator HERE.]]
.. What ever the case may be - it got a bit nippy last night and we'll be lucky to see 5 degrees above zero by noon today. Sweater weather, as the neighbors say.
.. Should you care to indulge yourself there is also a fine libation called the brass monkey.
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.. Time for the morning cholesterol fix: biscuits and gravy, flapjacks with butter, a bear claw or two, and some day-old donuts with buttermilk, washed down with yesterday's reheated coffee.-------