# Origin of "seriously (monkey)"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 27, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361 "2004-05-27T16:21:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361/1 "2004-05-27T16:21:10Z")

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Um, yeah, the title kinda says it all.

I’ve seen this phrase pop up on different message boards and in conversation with friends, and I want to know where it started and what its original context was.

Check it out: I googled “seriously (monkey)” and got [these](http://www.google.com/search?q=%22seriously+(monkey)%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N) results – you can see the phrase at work in results #1, 2, 4, 4a, 6, and 8.

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**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361/2 "2004-05-27T20:04:47Z")

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It’s a [Television Without Pity](http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/) thing. I just read about its origins the other day, but I’ve done some searching and I can’t seem to find the explanation. I’m almost positive that it involved a Buffy the Vampire Slayer discussion. IIRC, someone posted a reply with an image of a monkey in it, and that came to mean that the reply wasn’t really serious, so seriously (monkey) is a way of indicating sarcasm, or that the post isn’t really serious. Or something like that.

TWoP phrases seem to have a way of spreading rapidly all over the net.

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**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361/3 "2004-05-27T23:45:57Z")

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Ah, thank you!

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**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361/4 "2004-05-28T05:43:01Z")

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TWOP did a thing for a while where you could buy a banner ad, and they would display it. Some people, tired of hearing some fans of the Willow/Tara pairing complain about Tara’s death, designed an ad telling people to get over it already - _seriously_ (picture of a monkey). I believe the monkey was supposed to look like Amber Benson?

This quickly spread hither and yon across the 'net, and (monkey) is used as a way to make a rant less serious.

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**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-seriously-monkey/247361/5 "2004-05-28T05:44:30Z")

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[a href=http://www.livejournal.com/users/thefirstevil/9953.html?thread=354017#t354017]A better explanation.[/a]