Surrender monkeys? Not any more

DESPITE being one of its oldest allies, relations between the US and France have not always been rosy.

The French were famously lampooned in the US press as ‘cheese-eating surrender monkeys’ after then president Jacques Chirac opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Anti-French feeling swept America and there were also campaigns to boycott its goods. French fries were even renamed ‘freedom fries’ on some New York menus.

The ‘surrender monkeys’ phrase was actually coined by a scriptwriter of the TV series The Simpsons in April 1995.

It was spoken by Scottish character Groundskeeper Willie, who was forced to teach French at the elementary school where he worked due to cuts.

It has since appeared in the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations. However, France and the US have historically been close allies, including in the American War of Independence against the British. New York’s Statue of Liberty was also a French gift in the 1880s.