Money:
see Pin
Monkey: It's cold enough to freeze the balls from a brass monkey is an
expression with slightly genital overtones used to describe very cold
weather. A widely accepted origin is quite different. In the old wooden
Men-of-War the powder was taken from the powder magazine to the gun
decks by young boys. These boys were frequently orphans or waifs taken
off the streets. The passages and stairs along which they carried the
powder were so narrow that only boys, and not men, could get through.
They were known as "powder monkeys"; the cannon balls were stored in
brass rings near the guns themselves. By analogy these rings were
called "brass monkeys". On cold days they would contract with the
result that the cannon balls would be squeezed out of the ring - hence
the saying.
Sadly, there is no historical evidence to support the presence of brass
rings, or any other form of brass container for cannon balls. From the
US Navy Historical Center web site comes the following:
"In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in
shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which
consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them,
into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the
gun crew. These shot racks or garlands are discussed in: Longridge, C.
Nepean. The Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1981: 64).
A top view of shot garlands on the upper deck of a ship-of-the-line is
depicted in The Visual Dictionary of Ships and Sailing. New York:
Dorling Kindersley, 1991: 17)."
However, the story of brass holders can't have come out of thin air and
there may be some truth in the story. Perhaps such holders were used on
armed merchantmen? More research is indicated. I'll update this item
as, and when, I find anything else.
In March 2003 I had my attention drawn to the Urban Legends web site at
http://www.urbanlegends.com A message posted there in 1997 gave this
information:
According to the Concise OED, the two volume version with
four-pages-in-one printed in micro lettering, it is "a kind of gun or
cannon." The usage seems to be archaic. The dictionary cites a 1650
book called Art. Rendition Edinbur. Castle as referring to "28 short
brass munkeys alias dogs", and a 1663 (1672) publication called
Flagellum, O Cromwell as referring to "Twenty eight brass drakes called
Monkeys."
Perhaps we have clue here!
According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.
(New York: Random House, 1994), the first recorded use of the term
"brass monkey" appears to date from 1857 when it was used in an
apparently vulgar context by C.A. Abbey in his book 'Before the Mast'.
On page 108 it says "It would freeze the tail off a brass monkey."
Monty: the Full Monty means the very apex, the optimum, the best of
something. The phrase came into general use after the film of the same
name was released. The film was about a group of unemployed Sheffield
steel workers who became strippers in clubs; at the very end of their
performances they took off their last piece of clothing to reveal all -
the Full Monty!
The origin of the phrase is obscure - the OED has 13 possible origins
and their earliest citation is 1985. However, following research for a
BBCtv programme 'Balderdash & Piffle', things are a little
clearer, although still not fully acceptable to the OED. The TV
researchers were led to a cafe owner in, if I remember correctly,
Sheffield who produced a 1982 copy of the Yellow Pages with entries for
his two cafes, called either 'The Full Monty' or 'The Fullmonty'. He
chose this name from a well established local saying. Further research
led to the origins of a tailor's shop. This was part of a chain
established by a Lithuanian Russian in 1906. His business thrived and
he decided to call himself Montague Burton and his shops eventually
'Burtons'. By the 1950s his chain had expanded and was supplying suits
for men all over the country. One man interviewed by the researchers
had worked in 13 branches - all used the same expression for a three
piece suit of jacket, trousers and, importantly, waistcoat; this type
of order was called the Full Monty. Further research led to a man who
had worked in one of the early shops. He remembered the phrase
originating there. Sadly, there's no documentary evidence for this,
thus it's unacceptable to the OED, but they have accepted 1982 as the
first printed example.
Moon: Someone who is over the moon is elated. The allusion to feeling
so high with excitement that one imagines one could jump or fly over
the moon is easily understood. A definite origin for the phrase is
unknown. It is alleged that the family of William Gladstone's wife
invented idiomatic phrases which they used in private. 'Over the moon'
is said, by some, to be one of these, possibly inspired by the nursery
rhyme 'Hey Diddle Diddle'. Eric Partridge apparently found one 19C
reference in a private letter, (?from the Gladstones?)
Mouth: Mealy mouth is a term used to imply that a person is velvet
tongued; afraid of giving offence. It is somewhat derogatory in sense
and comes directly from the Greek melimuthos meaning "honey-speech".
