“STOP MONKEYING AROUND!”

Okay, let me begin by saying that I know the difference between monkeys and apes, and I know chimpanzees are not monkeys.

That said, I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have been told, “Quit monkeying around!” Or “Cut out the monkey business!” Or ” You’re all acting like a bunch of monkeys!”

We knew what they meant.

We had been to the zoo…to the spider monkey cage…it was the best!

Playing all the time.

Swinging from tree to tree.

Who wouldn’t want to act like that?

When I was 9 or 10, there was a show on ABC called The Hathaways.

It had a man and woman (Jack Weston and Peggy Cass) who were raising three chimpanzees as if they were children, clothes and all.

It was fantastic!

(Wikipedia said, “Probably the worst television show ever made!”)

I saw it!

I wanted a monkey. Or a chimpanzee.

But when someone told me to “Stop monkeying around!” I knew what they were talking about.

They meant we were acting like monkeys…the animals…(Or chimpanzees, it was just too hard to say “Stop chimpanzeeing around!”)

That is what it meant.

That is still what it means.

We weren’t offended.

We just had to act like humans.