Who the fuck calls french monkeys? Frogs maybe, but not a monkey. It’s slightly derogatory in some cases, but not the way I think of it, and for a very good reason. (I still probably wouldn’t go out of my way to call a French person a frog.)
I learned the French being referenced as frogs from Art Spiegelman’s Maus when I was a kid and it was in a positive context. The way he used animals in his books was brilliant. While the trend obviously started from cats and mice (Nazis and Jews), the use of other animals was super interesting. It kinda flipped the meaning of the terms in a very somber way.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, or even put words to it, but expressing the slang as actual characters is something to take very seriously in its underlying meaning. Regardless, Spiegelman didn’t pull any punches when it came to showing how nasty people could actually be.
“Cheese eating surrender monkeys” was a well-known insult during the 2000’s for several years after France refused to help the US attack Iraq. The whole freedom fries period.
I mean these are all jokes but I’ve definitely heard surrender monkey (primarily from Simpsons now that I think about it, which was also clearly in jest)
Who the fuck calls french monkeys? Frogs maybe, but not a monkey. It’s slightly derogatory in some cases, but not the way I think of it, and for a very good reason. (I still probably wouldn’t go out of my way to call a French person a frog.)
I learned the French being referenced as frogs from Art Spiegelman’s Maus when I was a kid and it was in a positive context. The way he used animals in his books was brilliant. While the trend obviously started from cats and mice (Nazis and Jews), the use of other animals was super interesting. It kinda flipped the meaning of the terms in a very somber way.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, or even put words to it, but expressing the slang as actual characters is something to take very seriously in its underlying meaning. Regardless, Spiegelman didn’t pull any punches when it came to showing how nasty people could actually be.
“Cheese eating surrender monkeys” was a well-known insult during the 2000’s for several years after France refused to help the US attack Iraq. The whole freedom fries period.
So fucked up, I mean, why bring cheese into this?
I mean, France does eat cheese, that part is accurate.
It’s from The Simpsons.
Older than that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger?wprov=sfla1
(Not to be confused with monkey hangers/ape hangers/monkey bars, which are also terms for excessively tall handle bars on motorcycles.)
Monkey bars are playground equipment about 5 feet off the ground for children to swing from.
I mean these are all jokes but I’ve definitely heard surrender monkey (primarily from Simpsons now that I think about it, which was also clearly in jest)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese-eating_surrender_monkeys