Dictionary

the organ grinder, not the monkey en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ðiː ˈɔːɡən ˌɡɹaɪndə nɒt ðə ˈmʌŋki/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio
• /ði ˈɔɹɡən ˌɡɹaɪndəɹ nɑt ðə ˈmʌŋki/ (General-American)

Etymology

From the common 19th-century practice of organ grinders training monkeys to dance to music played on a barrel organ in order to perform on the street and solicit donations.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge, rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for another's actions”).
   • The more a minister allowed the details of a bill to reflect compromises between the various interests, the more work could be left to officials. But if a bill were controversial, while civil servants could prepare the ground and clarify the issues, the interests opposed, as Aneurin Bevan put it, expected to see the minister, the organ-grinder, not the monkey. 2005, Christopher Foster, “Laws that Work”, in British Government in Crisis: or The Third English Revolution, Oxford, Oxfordshire; Portland, Or.: Hart Publishing, →ISBN, part 1 (The Old Regime), page 48:
   • And really it is the organ-grinder, not the monkey, who should be shot. 1981, New Society: The Social Science Weekly, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 240, column 3:
   • I was giving up security and a lucrative salary package to become my own employer and trade financial futures with my own money. […] I wanted to be the organ grinder, not the monkey. For years, I had explained to my clients how I was eventually going to be a trader, and now I was going to prove my point. 2013, Martin Horsey, “Using Tharp Think to Go from Full-time Broker to Full-time Trader”, in Van K. Tharp, Trading beyond the Matrix: The Red Pill for Traders and Investors, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 83:
   • If my hon. Friend said that the headquarters of the Board was to be situated in one of the regions, that would be some help. We need more than branch offices and subsidiaries. We want the organ grinders, not the monkeys. 1976 March 5, Eric Ogden, “Second Reading of the English Development Agencies Bill”, in House of Commons Debates (House of Commons of the United Kingdom), volume 906, London: Parliament of the United Kingdom:
   • Every submission stated that the Bill is not needed, yet the Minister has the temerity to come into the House and try to justify it. We wanted to hear from the organ-grinder, not the monkey. We heard today from both of them, and they both had the same message. 1986 June 5, John Banks, “Local Government Amendment Bill (No. 2): Report of Internal Affairs and Local Government Committee”, in Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): Second Session, Forty-first Parliament (New Zealand House of Representatives), volume 471, Wellington: V. R. Ward, government printer, →OCLC, page 1968:
   • "I mentioned it to him, but to be honest, he didn't seem that interested. He said something to the effect that he wanted to write about the organ grinders, not the monkeys. He seemed determined to meet them, the organ grinders, as he referred to them." / "What did he mean by that?" / "It's a saying in England, Inspector. I assumed he meant the big bosses behind it, the people shipping it in, and not the small-time pushers like Tony Carpentar." 2017, John Wilton, “Symposio Restaurant”, in Lindos Aletheia, [London]: PublishNation, →ISBN, page 33:

Forms

Relateds

not my circus, not my monkeys · monkey

Synonyms

organ grinder

Translations (3)

pl szef (the organ grinder, not the monkey) · fr il vaut mieux s’adresser au Bon Dieu qu’à ses saints (the organ grinder, not the monkey) · pl szefowa (the organ grinder, not the monkey)