you can take the monkey out of the jungle...

you can take the monkey out of the jungle...

offensive A shortening of "you can take the monkey out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the monkey." The phrase is used as a racial epithet against Black people to emphasize that their behavior or demeanor is uncivilized or undesirable in some way. (Monkeys are natively found in jungles, and the term "monkey" is an ethnic slur against Black people.)

See also: can, monkey, of, out, take

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.