Our furry fellows have always had to give their name to many (often very derogatory) phrases. Phrases like 'to make a monkey out of oneself' or 'to make a monkey show' have often become an integral part of our everyday language. In addition to the above-mentioned expressions, where the meaning is usually obvious, there are also various idioms, where the origin is extremely mysterious. Therefore we explain you here the meaning of the at first sight most senseless "monkey phrases":
"Have a monkey wrench in it"
In ancient times, the monkey was said to be a kind of devilish caricature of the divine human nature due to its undeniable resemblance to man. Its attributes of agility and dexterity became its undoing. By quite a few authors of the Middle Ages, the furry little animals were associated with speed. Thus the "monkey" part would be explained. But what connects the "tooth" with this idiom? To understand this aspect, one must first understand that it is not the human tooth, nor the bony white in the mouth of an animal that is meant, but the metal namesake of an old steam locomotive and its rack-and-pinion tempo regulators. The simple idea that more teeth also lead to greater speed also associates the tooth with speed. Combine these two anecdotes and you get the absurd-sounding saying, "To have a monkey's tooth."
"Shut up, monkey dead."
The origin of this expression could not be fully clarified so far, as so often. However, there are various sources that attribute its origin to the carny and circus trade. For us this seems to be at least the most plausible of all explanations. Accordingly, in earlier centuries, potential spectators at a fair were lured to the ticket booths, for example, with a kind of tasting, a small - in the figurative sense - hors d'oeuvre. Here a small monkey, which was put on display in a wooden box, had to serve. It should be noted here that trained monkeys were one of the main attractions and crowd pleasers of a circus at that time. When one day the last hour of the cute little monkey had struck, the flap of the box remained closed and for every (monkey) fool it was clear: There is no performance. That's why even today, when a matter is considered done, closed, people say, "Flap closed, monkey dead."
