Monkey see, monkey do

Pidgin-style saying

Baby macaque imitating facial expressions

Monkey see, monkey do is a pidgin-style saying that was already called an "old saying" in 1900,[1] and assumed to be an old saying in the 1890s.[2]

## Meaning

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The saying refers to learning a process without understanding why it works. Another definition implies the act of imitation, usually with limited knowledge or concern for the consequences.

## Versions

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Versions of the saying that appeared in U.S. commercial advertisements for shoes and other apparel in the 1890s suggested it was popularly established by then,[3] and an article in Sharpe's London Magazine half a century earlier had pointed to the monkeys' habit of mimicry: "Whatever [a monkey] sees men do, he must affect to do the like himself."[2]

## In folklore

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The West African folk tale of a peddler whose wares are ransacked by monkeys that proceed to imitate his gestures of outrage has been retold by Esphyr Slobodkina in Caps for Sale (A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business) and by Baba Wagué Diakité in The Hatseller and the Monkeys. Diakité notes that versions of his tale also are found in Egypt, Sudan, India, and England, and indeed have existed in Europe since the Middle Ages.[2]

## In culture

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Jazz singer-songwriter Michael Franks used the saying as the subject and title of his song "Monkey See—Monkey Do" on his 1976 album The Art of Tea. A television show of the same name aired on PBS Kids Sprout from 2010 to 2013 and later on Qubo and was produced by Title Entertainment and Smartoonz, the company also behind Sprout's Nina's Little Fables.[4]

In 2016, Scottish writer-comedian Richard Gadd titled his award-winning Edinburgh Fringe show Monkey See Monkey Do, which is about his experience as a male victim of sexual assault.[5]

The phrase is also doubly pastiched in the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, when the monkeys implicitly imitate human use of the phrase, when inverting it into "Human see, human do".[6]

In 1994, the (paraphrased) saying was used in a most literal sense when a juvenile spider monkey escaped from its exhibit at the Henson Robinson Zoo in Springfield, Illinois. The monkeys, a non-swimming species believed to be afraid of water, were exhibited in the open air on a small island in the middle of a lagoon, until a 1-year-old monkey unexpectedly jumped into the water and swam to shore. The monkey was quickly recaptured, but zookeepers knew that having seen the juvenile monkey successfully escape the island, the adult monkeys would soon try it themselves. The monkeys were quickly moved to a new exhibit with a cage, where they remain today. [7]

## See also

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* Cargo cult science
* Echolalia
* Hypercorrection
* Imitation
* Mimic octopus
* Mirror neurons in monkeys
* Three wise monkeys

## References

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1. ^ "Oregon, Portland". The Sailor's Magazine and Seamen's Friend. Vol. 73, no. 1\. January 1901. p. 30.
2. ^ a b c Whitman, Neal (November 25, 2013). "Why Do We Say "Monkey See, Monkey Do"?". The Visual Thesaurus. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
3. ^ Philadelphia Inquirer, November 24, 1895, p. 6/5 (quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary) s.v. 'monkey' P8: "A case of monkey see—monkey do"
4. ^ "Monkey See Monkey Do". KSPS. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
5. ^ Muir, Ellie (24 April 2024). "Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd says telling story about sexual assault 'saved my life'". The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
6. ^ "Cinema: Planet of the Apes". Time Magazine. 1968-02-23. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
7. ^ Bakke, Dave. "Escape from Monkey Island". www.sj-r.com. State Journal Register. Retrieved 8 September 2024.