jungle monkey

plural jungle monkeys

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see jungle, monkey.; monkeys that naturally inhabit tropical rainforests or jungles.
2. derogatoryidiomaticslangA term meant to demean someone or suggest that they are primitive or uncivilized; often used in racist contexts.

   She chattered to Suzy, chirruping like a jungle monkey about school friends and high-street fashions.

   2000, Louette Harding, Knotted, page 181

   4 more examples

   Every city has them; some height limit monuments to American utilitarianism, structures so tall that only a jungle monkey in his highest palm tree could appreciate them [...]

   1929, M. Mac Lean Finney, “The Court House Beautiful”, in The Architect and Engineer, page 25

   Now don't you let 'em get in any mischief. And see ef you cain't keep them clothes on 'em. They ain't got no more use for clothes than a jungle monkey.

   1953, Sturgeon, Theodore, More than human, page 31

   The Vietnamese enemy was a cliché, a construction based on previous cinematic treatments of the Japanese, Koreans, and the Chinese. He was a jungle-monkey. He hid in burrows. He lived underground. He lay in ambush of well-meaning American soldiers, and he emitted shrill cries when he attacked.

   2005, Mary Romero and Eric Margolis, The Blackwell Companion to Social Inequalities, page 488

   "And why, may I ask, are you dating that little jungle monkey?" "He's not from the jungle, he was born in Indianapolis," Max shot back.

   2016, ajson123456, Different