give a monkey's

Etymology

Possibly a euphemistic shortening of to give a monkey's toss or to give a monkey's shit

Verb

give a monkey’s

1. (informal, Britain, in negative constructions) To care; to have an interest or concern.
   • 1998: Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse, Billy Liar - He knows what he can do with his calendars. I don't give a monkey's. I'm leaving. I've got another job.
   • 2002: "A British managing director", quoted in Robert Westwood, Stephen Linstead, The Language of Organization - I couldn't give a monkey's. What I am interested in is the things that drive the big numbers.
   • 2004: Randall Stevenson, The Oxford English Literary History, 1960-2000 - Though a huge majority of the population may have continued not to give a monkey's for Derrida, Lacan, or Foucault themselves...
   • 2005: Justine Roberts, Carrie Longton, Mums on Pregnancy: Trade Secrets from the Real Experts - A friend living in France reports that the French don't give a monkey's about unpasteurized dairy products (cheese, etc.) but that they are completely paranoid about le toxoplasmosis.

See also

• give a fig
• give a rat's arse
• give a shit
• give a tinker's cuss