Quotes About Cannonballs

Another effect of the heavy rainfall of the night of 17–18 June that worked against Napoleon was the way that it softened the ground, to the extent that cannonballs tended to plough into the mud, rather than bounce along hardened ground. A cannonball fired at sun-baked ground might bounce as many as five or six times, leaving death and carnage in its wake, while one that merely buried itself after its initial impact had only a fraction of that lethal capacity.

The phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is often said to refer to a metallic grid with circular holes in it, set under a pyramid of cannonballs on a ship's deck to keep it stable. When this "brass monkey" got cold enough, the metal contracted and the cannonballs all popped out. In fact, the phrase means exactly what it says; the fake nautical euphemism is an attempt to make its rude humor more acceptable.

it's cold enough to freeze the nuts off a brass monkey," Mikey said. The kids giggled. "Mikey said nuts," Nina said. Kate held up a hand, the sign for silence. "The saying comes from the Civil War days, when the cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they'd crack and break off. Breaking the nuts off the brass monkey. Get it?