The Relative We Turned Into an Insult

The monkey has done nothing to deserve its unusual position in human language. It watches, plays, imitates, and gets on with the business of being a monkey. We, meanwhile, have turned its name into something to throw at people whose behaviour we find embarrassing.

This would be easier to understand if imitation, vanity, and the desire for attention were particularly rare among human beings. Unfortunately, they have become perfectly respectable activities, especially when accompanied by a presentation, an impressive professional vocabulary, and an invoice.

We have spent centuries convincing ourselves that civilisation has placed a comfortable distance between us and our animal relatives. We dress better, explain more, and have developed an extraordinary talent for giving respectable names to familiar instincts.

The monkey, however, remains an awkward reminder of the family resemblance.

And humanity has never been particularly gracious about relatives who remind it of itself.