The term monkey's uncle, most notably seen in the

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

"(Well,) I'll be a monkey's uncle", is used to express complete surprise, amazement or disbelief. It can also be used to acknowledge the impossibility of a situation, in the same way that "pigs might fly" is used. An example is if one says: "I may agree that if two plus two equals five, then I am a monkey's uncle". The phrase was used as early as 1917, in an El Paso, Texas newspaper advertisement for a play called ''The Brass Monkey''. It appeared in newspapers several times in the early 1920s, including several other examples in advertisements. It was originally a sarcastic remark made by

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

s. The notion "that eoplewere descended from apes was considered blasphemous...by Darwin's contemporaries", and it was for this reason that the sarcastic phrase came into use.

Michael Quinion Michael Quinion (born c. 1943) is a British etymologist and writer. He ran World Wide Words, a website devoted to linguistics. He graduated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he studied physical sciences and after which he joined BBC radio as a ...

notes that the phrase "Monkey's uncle" occurs in a parody of

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

's 1855 poem ''

The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...

'' which was reprinted in

James Parton James Parton (February 9, 1822 – October 17, 1891) was an English-born American biographer who wrote books on the lives of Horace Greeley, Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, and contributed three bio ...

's 1881 ''The Humorous Poetry of the English Language'', and observes: "This may be just an accident of invention, but the date fits". ''

I'm a Monkey's Uncle ''I'm a Monkey's Uncle'' is a 1948 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 110th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starrin ...

'' is the title of a 1948

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

. ''

The Monkey's Uncle ''The Monkey's Uncle'' is a 1965 American comedy film starring Tommy Kirk as genius college student Merlin Jones and Annette Funicello (former Mouseketeer from ''The Mickey Mouse Club'') as his girlfriend, Jennifer. The title plays on the idiom ...

'' is a 1965

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

movie, with the title song written by the

Sherman Brothers The Sherman Brothers were an American songwriting duo that specialized in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman (December 19, 1925 – March 6, 2012) and Richard M. Sherman (born June 12, 1928). Together they received various accolades in ...

and performed by

Annette Funicello Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Funicello began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve. She was one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the orig ...

and the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

. On their 2003 album ''Reel to Real'',

The Selecter The Selecter are an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979. The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead vo ...

included a song titled "Monkey's Uncle", criticizing religious dogma that contradicts scientific evidence. In the

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java programming language; it was large ...

, asking the merchant Zeke about purchasing a dragon

scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific sword type, but an assortment of different ...

will result in the line of dialogue "''Seriously, you'll be a monkey's uncle before you'll ever hold a dragon scimitar.''" In a humorous twist, purchasing and wielding a dragon scimitar requires completing the quest "Monkey Madness", in which the player must take on the role of an actual monkey's uncle.

References

English-language idioms Metaphors referring to monkeys {{vocab-stub