I asked my wife what springs to mind at hearing this weeks Illustration Friday topic word "Surrender" and to my shock and awe she said "Surrender Monkey". I thought she was just adding Monkey to any word I said (this is usually a complete winner with me) but I usually have heard of the term. This one I hadn't.Sounds derogatory and offensive doesn't it?
Turns out it is!
What was even more of a shock was that the phrase was coined in 2005 on The
Simpsons. This is shocking as my wife has never seen an episode without switching it off.
The phrase first appeared in an episode of
The Simpsons entitled "
'Round Springfield" .
Groundskeeper Willie, the school janitor, is teaching
French due to budget cuts, dressed in a striped shirt and a beret. In a heavy Scottish accent, he greets the class with
"Bonjourrr, yah cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys!" The "surrender" element of the phrase refers to the Anglo-American perception of the
Battle of France as being virtually a "surrender" to Nazi Germany. The Cheese bit being self
explanatory and the monkey bit being a comedy word.
This phrase was then picked up by other
U.S. media outlets, such as the National Review Online,
New York Post and commentator
John Gibson of the
Fox News Channel towards France who oppose the U.S. in international forums in particular, the
2003 invasion of Iraq.
(All of this info was stolen mercilessly from
Wikipedia)
In short this was a huge turning point in my marriage. My wife gave me a an excuse to draw a monkey that was inspired by the Simpsons that might even raise a smile from my British ancestors. I have never been more in love.
ANYWAY - It's not really my thing to be posting stuff against the French so I went with my NO SURRENDER MONKEY. I hope I dodged the bullet of offending anyone.
I also had an idea for it but I had already done something similar before but here is Sir Diddymus from the movie Labyrinth done in paper cut -
Never Surrender!
I have a few pieces in the Children's Book Illustrators Guild (CBIG) Exhibit at Penn Lake Library. One of the pieces is a new paper cut based o a previous design.
This weeks Illustration Friday topic was SWEATER. This sounded strangely to my ears, probably because they are British ears. Even though I know that it was referring to what I know as a "Jumper" there was still a slight nagging in my head when I drew thick woolen garments.
Luckily for me (and you....just wait!) "Reverse" sort of fit with the baby monkey. Why the topic though? It is because my good friend and Athlete, Adventurer, Designer, Mr Alex McCormick brought something into my life. Something that gave me words to live my life by.....
This phrase was then picked up by other U.S. media outlets, such as the National Review Online, New York Post and commentator John Gibson of the Fox News Channel towards France who oppose the U.S. in international forums in particular, the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
