softly, softly, catchee monkey
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
53
Scrabble Score
25
Letters
7
Syllables
13
Unique Chars
Meaning
phrase
Proceed cautiously or gently to achieve an objective.
Example Sentences
- ""Prudens qui patiens," was the motto of our great Coke : a motto which the negro pithily paraphrases — "Softly, softly, catch monkey.""
- "It is a West Coast proverb, which says, “Softly, softly, catchee monkey.""
- "the really important part of Scouting is to become good Scouts — "wise old birds," in fact. "Softly, softly, catchee monkey!" Not by making a row, but by cunning and kindness"
- "Having failed to secure a Press Council of the sort they wanted, they are now trying, in a small way, to get something established — on the old principle of ‘Softly, softly, catchee monkey.’"
- "Softly, softly, catchee monkey, I thought to myself....slow and sure was the way with a woman like this."
Etymology
Uncertain. Commentators refer to a variety of African languages or nations, but generally lack specific detail. Benham's Book of Quotations suggests the phrase originated from Black English, but is unclear. Compare the Wolof proverb, Ndànk-ndànk, mooy jàpp golo ci ñaay (“Slowly, slowly one catches a monkey in the forest”). Although the phrase is attested with non-standard assonant catchee mainly from the twentieth century, Eric Partridge suggests it was probably coined in the late nineteenth. Quotations from the mid-nineteenth century use catch or caught the monkey.
Word Breakdown
- Root: -
Inflected Forms
softly, softly caught the monkey (alternative)
softly, softly catch a monkey (alternative)