Cheese-eating surrender monkeys

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Cheese-eating surrender monkeys is an insulting descriptive phrase, usually applied to the French, that gained common currency in 2003 in the run-up to the American-led war in Iraq.

The phrase was first used by the dour Scottish character Groundskeeper Willie in the television cartoon series The Simpsons to describe the French. The "surrender" element of the phrase may refer to any of the Battle of Waterloo, the Franco-Prussian War, the World War II Vichy period, and engagements in France's colonial retreat.

The episode, 'Round Springfield, first aired on April 30, 1995; in it the local school, Springfield Elementary, has succumbed to budget cuts. Lunch Lady Doris states, "they've even got Groundskeeper Willie teaching French". The next shot is of Willie as a teacher, saying "'bonjourrr', you cheese-eating surrender monkeys!".

The line was first picked up and used predominently by conservative and Republican American politicians and publications. They were led, according to the Guardian newspaper, by Jonah Goldberg, a columnist for the right-wing weekly National Review. France opposed the U.S. government's stance on the "axis of evil", and refused to support the U.S. plans for invasion of Iraq. That the phrase become so well known is, arguably, a reflection of the depth of antipathy felt by some in the U.S. for nation-states (especially France; see anti-French sentiment in the United States) that oppose the strategy or tactics of the American War on Terrorism. The phrase, and similar opprobrious comparisons, have been widespread in some U.S. media outlets, such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation vehicles, the New York Post and Fox Broadcasting Company.

Translated into French as primates capitulards et toujours en quête de fromages, the phrase perhaps loses its Anglo-Saxon resonance.

References

• ‘Round Springfield episode review and partial transcript — The Simpsons Archive
• References to France on The Simpsons — The Simpsons Archive
• Wimps, weasels and monkeys - the US media view of 'perfidious France' — The Guardian