This is incredible! For years my parents have called me a monkey and told me to quit monkeying around. Does this mean I can sue them for child abuse? Oh, wait, I’m white…so it doesn’t matter.
Also, what do monkeys do but play in trees? Or is it only African monkeys that play in trees? because I could have sworn that South American monkeys play in trees and so do Asian ones. The horror! Does this mean that it’s not just a racial epithet for Africans but for everyone who is non-white?
Just a thought because if you’re going to reverse-anthropomorphizing, the entire English language may need to be re-written. Wouldn’t it be less of a headache if people didn’t assume that someone meant to be insulting just becasue they opened their mouths?
