Origins of expressions

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It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.
There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys.
Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar expression, didn't you? You must send this fabulous bit of historical knowledge to at least ten unsuspecting friends.


Feel free to add your own plausible origins of common sayings. (I didn't make up this one.)

Yep that is a good one. Pretty much aggreed upon too.

“Dead as a door nail” is one that still puzzles me and there isn't a definitive answer. In my mind dead=true. Similar to "knock 'em dead". So you drive the nail in so it is flush with the surface, which makes it impossible to get out from that side without damaging the wood. Though apparently door nails of this time weren't really this shape.

This is why I found it odd how some people behave as if metaphors always made sense, when it is obvious that they are just expressions that somebody made up at some point.

I realise that “dead as a door nail” isn’t a metaphor.

'Back to the salt mines' - reluctance to go back to work. From the Imperial Russian practice of sending prisoners to salt mines in Siberia.

"can't get a word in edgeways" is one of my favourates.

"dead ringer" can't find an explanation for that, many of these just sort of started. The origin if there ever was one gets lost soon after.

"ill at ease" is an oxymoron

"mad as a hatter" another favourite. Mercury was used to make felt hats. The vapour often caused fitting.

"Pig's ear"???

It might be to do with pig iron, which is an impure and weak cast iron. So you do a poor job at smelting. Ear is some measurement?

It could be ugly like "Dog's dinner" but that is more obvious as pig's ear isn't that ugly, though it doesn't always support its own weight as many other animals. Pigs can hear ok.

"Neck of the woods" was a colloquial term for forest settlement rather than an idiom, it has been expanded upon as general term for neighbourhood.

"Pig's ear"

"Sow's ear"



I have a feeling this could be biblical.

The full phrase is "you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear"

It sort of makes sense almost. You can make one just not a very good one

"Pig's ear" is also an unrelated cockney rhyming slang for beer.

There are lots of origins of that suggest that "pigs ear" is inferior material. But that still doesn't make it impossible, which is the point of the proverb. Purses where in wide spread use in the 16th century by both men and women. I think the difficulty is purses were just bags pulled together with some cord. They didn't have hinges or clips as such.

"tail between one's legs"

Apparently in Spanish they use "one hand in front, one hand behind"

"take down a peg" refers to the pegs used to lower a ship's colours

"under the wire" from horse racing

"vent one's spleen"