Aussie Sayings - whats your fav Aussie Saying

Not true Cisco a la cut & paste below;

It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" would contract, causing the balls to fall off. However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy, etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

i'd rateher have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

OK. So where DID the saying originate from??

From a Wikipedia search it is established that sailing warships of old did carry cast iron cannon balls upon a tray of brass known as a "brass monkey".

Why brass? It did not leave rust stains like iron. Why monkey? In reference to the boys who fetched the powder known as powder monkeys.

The coefficients of linear expansion and contraction of brass and iron are 19 and 10.8 respectively.

Accurately cast cannon balls and "brass monkeys" would have been made in a foundry or blacksmith's shop in which the ambient temperature would be 50-60 degrees C.

The cannon balls and "brass monkey" then taken aboard a ship to the north Atlantic where the temperature might be -30 degrees C (freezing temps), it is fairly reasonable to expect with the added inducement of low friction ice and the rolling of the ship in a seaway that:-

"It is cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey."

My contention is that it is not an "Aussie Saying". If you can find a reference to it in some old Australian folk lore, I am interested to hear it.

It is a nautical saying.

This is "on topic" as the thread title is "Aussie Sayings - whats your fav Aussie Saying".

Here are a couple of other nautical sayings that are commonly used in Australia. I will give you ten points if you can correctly explain the origins of the sayings. Internet searching is OK.

"Who let the cat out of the bag?"

"He is swinging the lead."

That would be as USEFUL as Tits on a Bull;

"Biggest Mobs"........."Deadly"........ "A roo loose in the top padock"......

" As cunning as a Dingo"......... " He's about 97cents in the dollar! "

and your "Dreaming "

Scarce as rocking horse ****........
About as useful as tits on a bull.............
Better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick............

who let the cat out of the bag= refers to getting the cat of 9 tails (multi stranded whip) out of its storage bag, prior to flogging some poor mug.

swinging the lead= sounding for the depth of the water you are sailing over, the wieght on the line is lead, and swung so it hits the water ahead of the boat, by the time it has sunk to the bottom it is (hopefully) level with the bloke doing the sounding.

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one of my great great etc. fathers never learnt about flogging,
50 lashes for deserting in portugal (prefered being shacked up with local bird to life in the 63rd regt. of foot)
thought to be lashed while on hulk in england prior to transportation,
thought to be lashed on boat while in transit to the land of OZ,
50 more while in Tassy,for absconding from roadworks party and attempting to stow away,
50 more when caught stowing away again,
36 more after he and crew drank the commandants wine shipment between sydney and Tassy,
caught absconding from chain gang-3 years in port arthur hard labour
he was either as tough as old boots- or thick as two short planks!

stephen.

not bad mate, how's yours