Posted by Gazz Hammond on January 01, 2001 at 18:13:52:
The Brass Monkey was a brass triangle used in the days of old sailing war ships to stop the cannon balls from moving about the ship. Ye olde english saying "It's so cold you can freeze the balls of a brass monkey". Being brass the monkey would retract in size and the cannon balls would shoot out of the brass monkey causing a lot of grief for the poor sailors.
Gazz