A bit more on "macaca" linguistically

[joemurphy]

I'm guessing it's the same word as Eng. macaque, referring to a genus
of Old World monkeys. I've never heard of it as a term of abuse in
English, but it's not hard to imagine. Cf. Portuguese macaca 'female
monkey; ugly woman; bad luck'.

I also liked this from Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang:


murkarker, murkauker: A monkey (ca 1850-80, low coll seldom heard
outside London, Ex Jack Macauco or Maccacco, a famous fighting monkey
of ca 1840-5 at the Westminster Pit).

And this on "Jack Macauco":

<http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=164373&imageID=429013>

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Allen probably has listened to his mother call people macaca

his whole life. Being a dull person, he probably never bothered to find out what it meant.

[joemurphy]

2. And this, from my CollinsRobert French Dictionary:

macaque - a macaque; macaque rhesus - rhesus monkey; (fig) qui est ce (vieux) macaque? - who is that ugly (old) ape?

[joemurphy]

3. In Portuguese it's a racial slur, or can be.

Macaco/a would be an extremely offensive slur if directed at black
people (it's not common at all). If race is not involved, it can mean
something like 'smart arse'. For some reason, 'macaca' also means 'hopscotch', maybe because it involves jumping, like a monkey jumping.

[joemurphy]

4. In Italian, it's "macaco" and means "monkey" or "dumbell" n/t