Cheese-eating surrender monkeys

"Cheese-eating surrender monkeys", sometimes shortened to "surrender monkeys", is a pejorative term for French people. It was coined in 1995 by Ken Keeler, a writer for the television series The Simpsons, and has entered two Oxford quotation dictionaries. It is originated probably from the story of Hartlepool fishermen mistaking a monkey for a French sailor and hanging him.

The term "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" first appeared in "'Round Springfield," an April 1995 episode of the American animated television show The Simpsons. In the episode, budget cuts at Springfield Elementary School force the school's Scottish janitor, Groundskeeper Willie, to teach French. Expressing his disdain for the French people, he says to his French class in his Scottish accent: "Bonjoooouuurrr, ya cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys!"

On the episode's audio commentary, executive producer Al Jean said the line was "probably" written by The Simpsons staff writer Ken Keeler. In a February 2012 interview, Keeler confirmed that he coined the term; he said he considers it his best contribution to the show. Al Jean commented that the staff did not expect the term to become widely used and never intended it as any kind of genuine political statement. When "'Round Springfield" was dubbed in French, the line became "Rendez-vous, singes mangeurs de fromage" ("Surrender, you cheese-eating monkeys").

Use of the term has grown outside of the United States, particularly in the United Kingdom, where The Simpsons is popular.

Jonah Goldberg, a conservative American National Review journalist, used it as the title of an April 1999 column called "Top Ten Reasons to Hate the French". In the run-up to and during the Iraq War, Goldberg reprised it to criticize European nations and France in particular for not joining the United States in its invasion and occupation of Iraq.

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