I'll be a monkey's uncle
(Redirected from monkey's uncle)
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Uncertain; the term monkey’s uncle appears in 19th-century works and may allude to early ideas about what is now called the theory of evolution.[1] The term may then have gained more currency after the widely publicized 1925 Scopes Trial in Tennessee, United States, in which a high-school teacher was found guilty of having violated a law prohibiting the teaching of human evolution in a state-funded school.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈaɪl biː ə ˈmʌŋkiz ˌʌŋkəl/, /ɑːl-/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑːl bi ə ˈmʌŋkiz ˌʌŋkəl/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Hyphenation: I'll be a mon‧key's un‧cle
Phrase
[edit]- (idiomatic) Often preceded by well: expressing complete surprise or disbelief.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wow
- Well I’ll be a monkey's uncle! I would never have thought that tourists would go into space!
- 1943, Field and Stream, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34:
- "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" Lem said. "I've heerd of rifles with transits on 'em, but I ain't ever seen one. Mind if I look at her?"
- 1970 February, Tech Engineering News, Cambridge, Mass.: Board of Directors of Tech Engineering News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 35, column 3:
- Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle, I actually solved that one.
- 1987, Sholem Aleichem [pseudonym; Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich], “[The Railway Stories] The Happiest Man in All Kodny”, in Hillel Halkin, transl., Tevye the Dairyman and The Railway Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics), New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books, [2008?], →ISBN, page 149:
- [...] I made as if to step inside—wham, bang, I'll be a monkey's uncle if he didn't slam the door in my face! What was I supposed to do now? It wasn't exactly a cheerful situation.
- 2002, Steve Morrill, Michael Saldivar, Dan LaReaux, Michael LaReaux, “The Three Authors’ Tale II”, in The Three Authors’ Tales, Lincoln, Neb.: Writers Club Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 40:
- But I know I am better than that. I completed two and a half years at the M.J.C., and I'll be a monkey's uncle if I did it all just to be neglected in some backwoods, drafty, lo-tech, no-glory, never-been-remembered-for-all-the-great-things-I-do, dead end court wizard position.
Translations
[edit]expressing complete surprise or disbelief
|
References
[edit]- ^ Michael Quinion (created January 1, 2005, last updated November 2, 2013) “Monkey's uncle”, in World Wide Words, quoting “Lyceum Theatre”, in The Observer, London: William [Innell] Clement, 1847 January 31, →OCLC, page 5, column 3: “The piece [a play called The Wigwam] was successful, as much from the rich, racy character of the acting, as from the humour of its situations and the liveliness of its incidents. [...] Mr. Oxberry was a veritable monkey's uncle, in his rage and jealousy; [...]”; the newspaper article also notes that the character of Mingo, played by Oxberry, is “known as the ‘Monkey’s Uncle,’ from his habit of ‘sucking the monkey.’”
Further reading
[edit]
monkey's uncle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - “I’ll be (also I am) a monkey’s uncle, phrase” under “monkey, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2002.
