Quote:
Originally posted by apeman
I was really disappointed that "freezing the balls of a brass monkey" was from when cannonballs were kept in a pyramid with a brass triangle round the bottom, to hold em up. When it got very very cold, the different rates of contraction of brass and lead made the heap fall over. Gutted.  I thought it was something rude.
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Of course they would keep iron cannonballs out in the open so that they could rust while exposed to the elements. A classic urban legend.
Letting th ecat out of the bag is from the days of open-air markets, when a dishonest meat merchant would put a cat in a bag instead of a pig. To reveal the truth by exposing the scam, you would "let the cat out of the bag."