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Ordered to learn a new language!

wm460

Grand Master
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Posts
23,095
Location
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Australia.
First Name
Mark
*My supervisor at work, said we have to all speak English at work.
As I am an Australian I only speak Australia n, now I have to learn a new language. [emoji13]


Can you blokes remind me of the old English slang.*
I used to know a lot of it, growing up watching all those classic BBC comedy shows.
I But old age has dimmed my memory.

If you think its not fit for Phil ears pm me.[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]*

A bloke got to have some fun.[emoji56]
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
Your first one is,

When it is too cold

"It's cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey" And if people think you are being rude it refers to the old sailing ships where cannon balls where kept on a brass tray called a monkey

Not that it gets very cold where you are:whistling::whistling::whistling:
 

alpha1

Fellow
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Posts
1,175
Location
middlesbrough
First Name
Dave
Im going to climb the apples and pears. (The stairs)
Her indoors (The wife)
The one that must be obeyed. (The wife)
 

21William

Fellow
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Posts
1,618
Location
Dorset
First Name
William
Your first one is,

When it is too cold

"It's cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey" And if people think you are being rude it refers to the old sailing ships where cannon balls where kept on a brass tray called a monkey

It’s a Myth.

“ 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.[15] However, nearly all historians and etymologists consider this story to be a myth. This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[16] etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).[17]

They give five main reasons:

The OED does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" being used in this way.
The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is simply false. The shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible.
Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. The shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks—longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot was inserted for ready use by the gun crew.
Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true or jamming in the barrel and exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.
The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard a warship.
The reference is most likely a humorous reference to emphasize how cold it is.”

Brass monkey (colloquialism) - Wikipedia
 
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