monkeyspeak

alternative monkey-speak

1. uncountableThe language supposedly used by monkeys.

   Meronym: oo oo aa aa

   4 more examples

   So the starlings employ calls which differentiate between aerial and terrestrial predators, and the vervets tune in and decipher them just as effectively as they use their own ‘monkeyspeak’.

   1992, Rod Preston-Mafham, Ken Preston-Mafham, “Enemies and Defence”, in Primates of the World, New York, N.Y.: Facts On File, →ISBN, page 171

   You need a guide like our machete-wielding Cofan Indian to point things out to you. Such as the distant chatter of tamarin monkeys amid the squawking of macaws and toucans. Silent and still, we wait while the guide calls out to them in fluent monkeyspeak. And over they come, a dozen tiny tamarin monkeys. Then off they go again, when Bill shouts: “Oh look, monkeys!”

   1996 October 26, Nathan Ford, “Red in tooth and claw”, in The Guardian Weekend, London, page 70

   Shave the monkey. There may be some resistance. Like small children, monkeys can be willful creatures and will stomp around the room, protesting: “I know how to shave MYSELF!!” At this point, you must be firm. “Are you going to come over here and get shaved or do you want to lose a privilege?” The monkey might say: “Eeeech?” which is monkeyspeak for “What kind of privilege are we talking about here?”

   2006 November 25, John Boston, “Monkey See Monkey Do Monkey Bread …”, in The Santa Clarita Valley Signal, Santa Clarita, Calif., page A2, column 1

   In the monkeytail code, the “m” represented “1”; the “o”, “2”; the “n”, “3”, and so forth up to the “l” for zero. […] In partial reparations for allowing the column content to plunge to such depths as monkeyspeak, we now follow with a topic of more relevance.

   2007 March 11, Karl Breckenridge, “Thrifty’s price tag code divulged; painted building sign revealed”, in Reno Gazette-Journal, Reno, Nev., page 7A, column 4

   Synonyms: monkeyese