The Relative We Turned Into an Insult

We have composed operas, founded institutions, launched spacecraft, and acquired an impressive vocabulary for distinguishing ourselves from the animal kingdom. The monkey, unfortunately, has continued to behave in ways we recognise rather too well: imitating others, competing for attention, occasionally making a spectacle of itself. In a forest, such behaviour is merely animal. In a boardroom, it may qualify as strategy. And yet, when we want to insult someone, it is still the monkey whose name we borrow.