The attorneys for Enron Corp. are now touting their expertise on "off-shore special purpose entities" on the firm's web site. They are "well-versed" in "off-balance" sheet treatment, according to their ad. Texas columnist Molly Ivins comments, "In New York they call that chutzpah; in Texas we call it brass body parts.

Any other local terms for this temerity?

Spoken in the Canadian Parliament:
Mr. Speaker, we have a saying in Newfoundland. When someone is awfully bold we say they have more nerve than a toothache.

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in Texas we call it brass body parts.

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We use "brass" similarly. We'd say something like, "He had the brass neck to ask for a refund." or "He had the brass to ask for a refund."

Kalleh said "in Texas we call it _brass body parts_", and arnie said, "He had the brass neck to ask for a refund." or "He had the brass to ask for a refund."

We would say "brass balls" or just "brass" or, more likely, just "balls".

Tinman

Very vague on this, but I think I've heard that in Spanish the word cojones, meaning "balls", is used in the same way.

Enron? They need to rename it "End-run," or maybe "Enruin." Oh, just so you don't think ALL Texans are Dubya acolytes, Molly Ivins, Bill Moyers, and Jim Hightower are Texans.

I agree, Asa.
I just thought of another term we hear in the midwest, "he's got some cheek to do that!

"You've got guts!"

Says tinman: >> We would say "brass balls"

Has anyone ever heard the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"? Does anyone know its source?

The common explanation is reckoned to be without foundation in truth. This piece of alleged history explains that in the olden days of sailing ships, cannon balls were stacked on the decks on brass plates called "monkeys." The plates had indentions in them that held the balls on the bottoms of the stacks. Brass, however, expands and contracts with the temperature and if it got cold enough, the cannon balls could fall...giving real foundation to the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"


According to the United States Navy Historical Center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification. The center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term "brass monkey" and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey's extremities, appears to have originated in the book "Before the Mast" by C.A. Abbey. It was said that it was so cold that it would "freeze the tail off a brass monkey." The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon balls. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm