[Ads-l] "Not my circus, not my monkeys." (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jack Lohr]

Here it is in Polish *"Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy" *as early as 2005:
http://www.poloniainfo.se/forum/temat.php?temat=3657

And a very apt usage, if Google Translate is to be trusted!

--Jack Lohr, Interim Minister
Hitchcock Presbyterian Church

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 10:50 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: "Not my circus, not my monkeys." (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> I hadn't heard this until your post, and as I asked friends, none of them
> h=
> ave heard it either (but all seem to like it).
>
> One offered back, "I'm gonna have to salt and pepper this monkey before I
> e=
> at it."  Meaning, I've got a task to do that I don't like, but will have
> to=
>  buckle down and do it anyway.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of James Callan
> > Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 4:24 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: "Not my circus, not my monkeys."
> >=20
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       James Callan <scarequotes at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      "Not my circus, not my monkeys."
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >=20
> > Within the last year, I've heard the phrase "not my circus, not my
> > monkeys," a colorful expression meaning "not my problem."
> >=20
> > It's supposedly a Polish proverb, but it seems to have appeared in
> > English starting in 2012.
> >=20
> > Has anyone else heard this phrase? Any clue about whether or not the
> > Polish proverbial origin is true or not?
> >=20
> > --
> > James Callan: Good with words.
> > Twitter: @scarequotes
> > (206) 999-4831
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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