No Monkey Business Here

@ShabanaEnglish No Monkey Business Here الصفحة الرئيسية @ShabanaEnglish Twitter: Facebook: Monkeys are very similar to us in many ways. Most have ten fingers and ten toes, and brains much like ours. We enjoy watching them because they often act like us. In fact, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution says that monkeys and humans share a common ancestor. Songwriter William Gilbert, in the musical “Princess Ida“, wrote: “Darwinian man, though well-behaved, at best is only a monkey shaved.“ His words -- sung to Sir Arthur Sullivan’s music -- make listeners smile. Well, monkeys make us smile, too, because they are creatures full of playful tricks. This is why many monkey expressions are about tricky people or playful acts. One of these expressions is monkeyshines, meaning tricks or foolish acts. The meaning is clear if you have ever watched a group of monkeys playfully chasing each other: pulling tails, stealing food, doing tricks. So, when a teacher says to a group of students: “Stop those monkeyshines right now!“ you know that the boys and girls are playing, instead of studying. You might hear that same teacher warn a student not to monkey around with a valuable piece of equipment. You monkey around with something when you do not know what you are doing. You are touching or playing with something you should leave alone. Also, you can monkey around when you feel like doing something, but have no firm idea of what to do. For example, you tell your friend you are going to spend the day monkeying around with your car. You do not have any job or goal in mind. It is just a way to pass the time. Monkey business usually means secret, maybe illegal, activities. A news report may say there is monkey business involved in building the new airport, with some officials getting secret payments from builders. You may make a monkey out of someone when you make that person look foolish. Some people make a monkey out of themselves by acting foolish or silly. If one monkey has fun, imagine how much fun a barrel of monkeys can have. If your friend says he had more fun than a barrel of monkeys at your party, you know that he had a really good time. Monkey suits are common names for clothes or uniforms soldiers wear. In earlier years in many American cities, you would find men playing musical hand organs on the street. Dancing to the music would be the man’s small monkey dressed in a tight-fitting, colorful jacket similar to a military uniform. So, people began to call a military uniform a monkey suit. القرود تشبهنا كثيراً من نواحٍ عديدة. فمعظمها لديها عشرة أصابع في اليد وعشرة أصابع في القدم، وعقول تشبه عقولنا إلى حد كبير. ونحن نستمتع بمشاهدتها لأنها غالباً ما تتصرف مثلنا. في الواقع، تقول نظرية التطور التي وضعها تشارلز داروين أن القرود والبشر يتشاركون سلفاً مشتركاً. وقد كتب كاتب الأغاني ويليام جيلبرت، في المسرحية الموسيقية ”الأميرة إيدا“ ” الإنسان الدارويني، على الرغم من حسن سلوكه، إلا أنه في أحسن الأحوال ليس سوى قرد محلوق “. كلماته - التي غناها على أنغام موسيقى السير آرثر سوليفان - تجعل المستمعين يبتسمون. حسناً، القرود تجعلنا نبتسم أيضاً لأنها مخلوقات مليئة بالحيل المرحة. وهذا هو السبب في أن العديد من تعبيرات القرود تدور حول الأشخاص المخادعين أو الأفعال المرحة. أحد هذه التعبيرات هو ”القرود المخادعة، أي الحيل أو الأفعال الحمقاء. والمعنى واضح إذا سبق لك أن شاهدت مجموعة من القرود يطاردون بعضهم بعضاً بشكل هزلي: سحب الذيول، وسرقة الطعام، والقيام بالحيل. لذا عندما يقول المŸ