It's suprising how many common use terms have a naval origin
.
For instance......
Not enough room to swing a cat.
Punishments were administrated with the use of a cat of nine tails.Punishments were always carried out on deck, as below deck there was "not enough room to swing a cat".
Learning the ropes.
For a young midshipman to progress to the next level of rank, he was required to know the purpose of ever rope used on the ship.
Cold enough to freeze the balls of a brass monkey.
No, it's not a rude one
.Cannon balls were stored in brass squares called Monkeys.Metals expand and shrink depending on the temperature.As brass and iron shrink at different temperatures (can't remember which one shrinks faster
) the cannon balls would be upset and spill all over the gun deck.
Not a lot of people know that.
Not a lot of people want to know that
