freeze the balls off a brass monkey

a reference to extreme cold. according to the united states navy historical center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification. the center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term “br-ss monkey” and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey’s extremities, appears to have originated in the book “before the mast” by c.a. abbey published in 1857. it was said that it was so cold that it would “freeze the tail off a br-ss monkey.”. the navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon b-lls.
the first taxi man george encountered in brooklyn said, “it is cold fit to freeze the b-lls off a br-ss monkey.”
statement about the temperature being very cold.

background:
a br-ss monkey is a naval term for the holder that holds the cannon b-lls. it was made of br-ss and the cannon b-lls were not, so when it got cold enough, the two metals would contract by different amounts and the cannon b-lls would no longer fit properly in the holder and thus fall off.
person 1: holy cr-p its freezing in here.
person 2: yeah, its cold enough to freeze the b-lls off a br-ss monkey.
the cannon b-lls on a man o’ war were stacked and held in place by a br-ss ring on the deck known as a br-ss monkey. in cold weather the sea spray would turn to ice thus freezing the cannon b-lls together and onto the ring.
hence the expression “it’s cold enough to freeze b-lls on a br-ss monkey” or simply “br-ss monkey weather”. note that the correct phrase is “on” not “off” a “br-ss monkey”. the expression is often corrupted to hint at an -ssociation with a man’s t-st-cl-s b-lls