Street voices
Hugues
·
United States
"Monkeying around, derived from messing around or fooling around. It just means not getting anything done and not doing anything serious. What's all this ruckus? What are you boys doing up here? Oh, sorry, we were just playing. Well, stop monkeying around and get some homework done!"
What it means
A casual way to say someone is fooling around, wasting time, or not taking things seriously when they should be getting on with something.
Usage examples
"Quit monkeying around and finish your homework, you've been up there laughing for half an hour."
"The kids spent the whole afternoon monkeying around in the garden instead of raking the leaves they had promised to clear."
Where it comes from
Borrows the restless mischief of monkeys, all fidget and play and no focus. Pinned on people, it became the gentle scolding for messing about instead of getting on with the task at hand.
Editors of this term
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