I'll be a Monkey's Uncle
Whether you're a student of etymology or you don't even know what that word means, tell us how you think this animal expression originated. We'll post the most accurate as well as the most inventive. Email your answer to when_pigs@discovery.com.
Someone, probably an Englishman, once had a pet monkey. Being very eccentric, he insisted on having the monkey treated as a family member by all of his family. Perhaps a brother of his refused to accommodate him. His name was most likely Winston. Feeling that he had to overcompensate for his nickname of " Winny," he was the stodgiest of the family. He was probably also a "Barrister." Anyway, one evening at a family dinner, Winny was asked to help the monkey at the table by cutting up his steak and kidney pie into manageable bites. Winny was aghast at the suggestion and replied, "I'll be a monkey's uncle when pigs fly!" Therefore inventing not one but two very well known animal expressions.
—rnf850
Around the year 1882, a man named Felix DeMonte left Spain to peruse a career involving his greatest passion — photography. His destination? Ecuador. He reached Ecuador nearly four months later and quickly began to photograph the local wildlife. One dismal night, he stumbled upon a small heap in the middle of a twisted jungle road while he was on his way back to his new village. It was a tiny abandoned monkey — less than 3 weeks old. “Poachers,” he thought. From then and there, Felix loved and cared for his companion, Albert, until his tragic death in 1889. His one, last wish was that if anything ever happened to him, his monkey would be sent to his best friend, his brother, Marco. One morning shortly after Felix’s death, Marco heard a knock at his door. When he answered it, there stood Albert with a dirty note tied to his odd little hand. Marco quickly read the note, tears welling up in his eyes. He slowly looked up from the note to Albert. He wiped the tears from his eyes and said in a determined tone, “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”
—warpt_princess
I’ll be a monkey’s uncle came from Darwinism, a theory that men come from apes. So when you say I'll be a monkey's uncle your referring to the theory.
—adclibear
First heard during the Darwin "Monkey Trials". This sentiment was voiced by the defendant when faced with the unbelievable narrow-mindedness of the court.
—Brownsber
