Posted by James Briggs on January 29, 2003
In Reply to: Give a Monkey's posted by Jon on January 29, 2003
: Origin of the phrase "couldn't give a monkey's" ?
: A monkey's what? Is it rhyming slang perhaps?
: Thanks
: Jon
I believe it to be just another case of choosing an animal to illustrate a point - eg 'sick as a parrot', 'dog-tired'. The example is particularly crude, because I've always understood that there's a missing word, indicating that things are so trivial as to be not worth caring about. 'I don't give a monkey's f**k'.