The brass monkey saying

Did you ever wonder about certain sayings? Where they came from? What was the original intent of it? I recall reading somewhere that "balls to the wall" relates to the weighted balls on the end of a steam engine's governor and how as engine RPM increases centrifigal force causes the weights (balls) to swing out towards the bulkhead (wall) and control the RPM. Hence, "balls to the wall" indicates something or someone is going at a high speed.

However, I never really knew the origin of the saying about "Cold enough to freeze the .... off of a brass monkey." Well, it relates to Naval History.

Hmmmm.... I don't know about that one...