Giving a Monkey's

Posted by TheFallen on January 30, 2003

In Reply to: Give a Monkey's posted by ESC on January 30, 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'.

: I thought it was "a monkey's butt," from the "I don't give a rat's a**" genre.

The following massively unscientific results from both Google and Googlefight:-

Don't give a monkey's ass/arse - 5,760 hits

Don't give a monkey's uncle - 5,280 hits
Don't give a monkey's f**k - 3,070 hits
Don't give a monkey's butt - 2,770 hits
Don't give a monkey's grin - 2,650 hits
Don't give a monkey's toss - 1,180 hits
Don't give a monkey's fart - 752 hits

Don't give a monkey(')s with none of the other suffixed words appearing on the same page - 550 hits

Just for comparative purposes, I append the following results too:-

Don't give a toss - 446,000 hits
Don't give a rat(')s ass/arse - 67,150 hits
Don't give a (tinker's) cuss - 56,140 hits

• Giving a Monkey's Lewis 01/31/03
  • Giving a Monkey's S. 02/02/03
    • Giving a Monkey's S. 02/02/03
      • "Flying [F-word]": Vonnegut vs. Steinbeck R. Berg 02/02/03
        • "Flying [F-word]": Vonnegut vs. Steinbeck S. 02/03/03
          • "Flying [F-word]" in Steinbeck R. Berg 02/03/03
            • "Flying [F-word]" in Steinbeck S. 02/04/03