Give a Monkey's

Posted by James Briggs January 29, 2003In 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'.

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