OK, since we’re way OT and talking about such stuff, here’s one for y’all.

Most of us have heard or used something similar to, “That woman can talk the balls off a brass monkey!” and have no good idea where the phrase came from or what it means (it works nonetheless ;>).

Well, I’m here to larn y’all sumpin new today.

A “brass monkey” was the brass form secured to the deck of old warships. It was used to hold the first layer of cannonballs in place for those pyramid looking stacks. When conditions got cold enough sufficient ice would form to push even this first layer of cannonballs up off the brass monkey and the pyramid of cannonballs would collapse.

Thus we got the expression, “Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey!” which has been adapted in new and wonderful ways for a few centuries now.

BTW, somewhat back on topic, it occurred to me while reading through this thread that there is an element within the populace (and apparently it includes CBS, Dan Rather, Juan Williams, etc) that has bought into a society wide version of “jury nullification”. They don’t care whether “evidence” is real or not, and may even be willing to fabricate evidence. What is important is that the outcome of the “trial” be what they believe it should be. They aren’t interested in trying to follow the evidence to where it leads but rather deciding the desired outcome and then fitting the evidence and, if the evidence cannot be made to fit, then simply declaring the desired verdict despite any and all evidence to the contrary.