At first I thought a brass monkey was a brass plate on the deck of a ship with indentations to hold cannonballs, thus the sayingBut alas, this appears to be wrong
No one is sure where the phrase started and cannonballs were kept in racks on the gun and spar deck, not in pyramids piled up on deck
The first sighting of the phrase was in the 1850's, and also included the monkey's tail, ears etc... (I am cheating with this part as I did a little research before answering this question)
Thus, it is one of history's mysteries where this phrase came from. Speaking of mysteries sir, why is the St Lawrence region called Lower Canada, and the Great Lakes, Upper Canada
It seems backward to me
I must now stop before I get kicked off this thread for being off topic
Always look forward to hearing more from you
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HEY! AND WHERE ARE MY BLACK BALLBUSTIG BEAUTIES!![]()






But alas, this appears to be wrong
No one is sure where the phrase started and cannonballs were kept in racks on the gun and spar deck, not in pyramids piled up on deck
The first sighting of the phrase was in the 1850's, and also included the monkey's tail, ears etc... (I am cheating with this part as I did a little research before answering this question)
Thus, it is one of history's mysteries where this phrase came from. Speaking of mysteries sir, why is the St Lawrence region called Lower Canada, and the Great Lakes, Upper Canada
It seems backward to me
I must now stop before I get kicked off this thread for being off topic
Always look forward to hearing more from you
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