Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Proverbs 117. The proverb today is monkey-see monkey-do. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. This phrase is often used with children imitating or copying others. Meaning other people. However it is not limited to children. When used with adults it suggests they are copying someone without thinking about it. Without thinking about what they are doing. Okay. Let's take a look at several examples here. And of course you know when we get monkey-see monkey-do it probably alludes to the idea if you ever watch monkeys, if have you ever gone to a zoo, sometimes if you could do something the monkey might actually copy. You know, or we've seen this before monkeys copy each other and they may copy human behavior too. So this is why we say monkey see monkey do. That's where the phrase the idea for the phrase actually comes from. But let's look at the examples. Example number one. You have to be careful not to use any dirty words in front of the children or in front of small children. They repeat and do whatever they see. You know how it goes. Monkey see monkey do. Yeah. You know, sometimes you, you might hear this. You, see this in the movies a lot. A little child might say the dirty word. Oh how did he learn that ? Where did he hear that from ? You know, obviously he heard it from another adult. So we sometimes say monkey see monkey do. So we use a lot with children. Number two. Yes. He says when children first go to school, they start picking up bad habits from other kids. It is just monkey see, monkey do. You know. maybe they'll start noticing what ... Why are you behaving like that ? And maybe they learned it from some other kids in school. All right. And let's look at number three. Many teenagers or even you know young adults get involved in law-breaking behavior. What are we talking about ? Maybe shoplifting, maybe taking drugs. Some something along that line. Due to peer pressure. It is a matter of monkey-see monkey-do. Yeah. Maybe they see some of their other friends. Maybe they get mixed in with a bad crowd. They see these other friends or their peers doing something and you know they might copy it. So in this sense , we could say monkey-see monkey-do. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.
A2 US monkey copy copying phrase behavior imitating English Tutor Nick P Proverbs (117) Monkey See Monkey Do 15 0 anitawu12 posted on 2019/04/28 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary