Talk:porch monkey

porch monkey
Is the second sense used in real life? The "etymology" makes me wonder. —Ruakh TALK 04:14, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, this mention (defining it as a "mischievous child") is interesting, but probably represents only an isolated misunderstanding. Uses on b.g.c. seem to be uniformly racial, or at best ambiguous. -- Visviva 05:31, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

How this phrase was actually used
During the forties and fifties, whenever my father would drive the family any distance down the "highway" (which was only a two lane blacktop) once out of town, the road was punctuated by the porched one room shacks of poor Negroes. With no electricity or television, they would sit on their porches and watch the rare automobile or Mack truck pass by. The skinny children would become excited by the changing picture on the highway and cavort and wave at the passing white folk. Like monkeys in the zoo imploring us to toss them peanuts. I'm not sure how to politely word that for your definition, but, that is how it was used and why. The phrase had nothing to do with Negroes being lazy.72.197.69.124 16:26, 6 September 2013 (UTC)