monkey business

[keannu]

Do you know the origin of "monkey business " known as "fraud"? Is it because monkeys imitate something to fake others?

KK99)The con man gets living cost doing monkey business everyday.

 

[bhaisahab]

Do you know the origin of "monkey business " known as "fraud"? Is it because monkeys imitate something to fake others?

KK99)The con man gets living cost doing monkey business everyday.

I've never heard fraud described as "monkey business". In addition to that, your sentence is not natural English.

 

[keannu]

I adopted this sentence from a vocabulary book written by a Korean, and I can't tell if it's natural English or not, so I can't help but believe you.
So is "monkey business" not a common expression even in North America like Canada? The writer lives in Canada.

 

[5jj]

Monkey business is fine, but we don't 'do' monkey business. Monkey business is 'going on' usually.

 

[keannu]

I corrected it on my own according to 5jj's advice.

KK99)The con man gets living cost doing monkey business everyday.
=> The con man makes a living involved in monkey business everyday.

 

[5jj]

I corrected it on my own according to 5jj's advice.

KK99)The con man gets living cost doing monkey business everyday.
=> The con man makes a living involved in monkey business everyday.

That's not what I advised! That is not English at all. We cannot talk about 'monkey business' as a way of earning a living. Here's how I might use it.

Postules got that contract from the ministry, but I think there was some monkey business involved.

 

[keannu]

I'm kind of frustrated after I came to know an example of my favorite vocabulary book is wrong, and I also doubt this sentence in the same book might be wrong as well.

ex101) She was sent to prison for trying to corrupt a policeman (with money).
This "corrupt" is used as the meaning of "buy someone to make him do what one wants by bribing him", but I'm not sure if it's a correct sentence.

 

[bhaisahab]

I'm kind of frustrated after I came to know an example of my favorite vocabulary book is wrong, and I also doubt this sentence in the same book might be wrong as well.

ex101) She was sent to prison for trying to corrupt a policeman (with money).
This "corrupt" is used as the meaning of "buy someone to make him do what one wants by bribing him", but I'm not sure if it's a correct sentence.

"bribe" would be better.

 

[Grumpy]

Keannu
I agree with bhaisahab that, in this case, "bribe" would be simpler, and more specific - but that is not to say that "corrupt" is wrong. In cases of bribery involving the police or other authority figures, the noun "corruption" and the verb "to corrupt" are often used. So don't give up on your favourite vocabulary book just yet!

 

[probus]

I think one problem with using "to corrupt" is that the policeman may already be corrupt. One does hear "corrupt" for "bribe" in America, and I believe the usage exists even in American law. That's because police corruption is relatively rare in America. But there are countries where it's almost a certainty that every policeman was corrupted long before you ever met him.

 

[Miss Jeffery]

I'm kind of frustrated after I came to know an example of my favorite vocabulary book is wrong, and I also doubt this sentence in the same book might be wrong as well.

ex101) She was sent to prison for trying to corrupt a policeman (with money).
This "corrupt" is used as the meaning of "buy someone to make him do what one wants by bribing him", but I'm not sure if it's a correct sentence.

I agree, "bribe" would be better in this sentence. Really the person doing the bribing is corrupt...