Talk:Monkey see, monkey do

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Well, I am American and "Monkey See, Monkey Do" has always meant imitation of a process without understanding to me. I don't think that viewpoint is strictly European.

I'm not happy with this part of the article where it says: "The saying probably originates from the folklore of Mali, West Africa"... what is probably supposed to mean? It either is or it isn't, and if it is, let's have some proper factual basis to say that. If it isn't, it should be removed. Volatileacid (talk) 17:58, 10 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed.[edit]

If somebody has proof the expression comes from Mali, then source it. If not, then eliminate it. Occam's Razor says the expression is a translation from French, a neighbor of England. The lack of subject-verb agreement makes me think it's parody Chinese-English, as in "No tickee, no shirtee," or "Confucius say..." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.33.158.121 (talk) 18:01, 20 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The article could probably be improved by incorporating information from this article: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/why-do-we-say-monkey-see-monkey-do/ I came across the saying in a piece by Gertrude Stein, "Farragut or A Husband's Recompense", written in 1915, but published only in 1928 (in Useful knowledge): "By that I mean Monkey. Monkey see monkey do. Monkey do what. Monkey loves me." Görgen Antonsson (talk) 11:08, 15 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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