Idioms

monkey's uncle

(Well) I'll be a monkey's uncle!

An expression of surprise or amazement. Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle—Shane actually managed to get his movie made. A: "Dad, look! I got an A- in Algebra!" B: "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle! Good for you—looks like that tutoring paid off." John managed to get the job after all? I'll be a monkey's uncle.
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monkey's uncle

An impossibility. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, especially the notion that man was descended from apes, was greeted with much skepticism, and especially in parts of the English-speaking world where Creationism held sway. Hence the expression “Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle,” which was used to show grave doubts about any and all seemingly improbable situations. Another animal phrase used by doubters and scorners was “when pigs fly.”
See also: uncle
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price
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References in periodicals archive
As if we needed more proof these companies couldn't give a monkey's uncle about their customers.
Seriously, DO NOT READ THIS until you've seen the movie, or you'll be a monkey's uncle.
John Henry and the other bigwigs from Fenway Sports do not give a monkey's uncle about Liverpool Football Club for itself alone, they are interested in it only for the profits it can generate to add to their wealth.
Whether it will return them to rock's top table is arguable but if these songs don't close at least one festival this summer then I'm a Stone Age monkey's uncle.
If that's false imprisonment and worthy of a one-year jail sentence I'm a monkey's uncle.
If the moon is made of green cheese (or some equally preposterous statement, P), then I'm a monkey's uncle (Q).
I seem to recall foreseeing that City would "make the play-offs or I'm a monkey's uncle!"
Also new to amateurs is the musical Just So, based on five of Rudyard Kipling's stories, and Monkey's Uncle, by David Lewis, described as a side-splitting farce for the 21st Century - again, from Weinberger.
SOUTH Wales' latest reality star may be nicknamed ``chimp'', but this monkey's uncle - Mickey Farrell - is very proud of her.
Answer: I'll be a monkey's uncle! Robin Falco San Francisco, California
Baroness Thatcher: If thatlady is not on HRT (1990), I'm a monkey's uncle. She is round and soft and sexy, very female indeed...
John McNeil, Clydebank, said: "I know a lot of Celtic fans won't want to hear this but the way Rangers are playing, if they don't win the league then I am a monkey's uncle.
And if further office visits alter that diagnosis, well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.
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