"Filipino Monkey" is a taunt used by radio pranksters in maritime radio transmissions since at least the 1980s, especially in the Persian Gulf. This taunt is also used as a name for pranksters who make odd, confusing, or even threatening calls on VHF marine channel 16, which is the VHF calling and distress channel. Prior to the advent of GMDSS all ships at sea were required to monitor the channel, which is meant to be used only to make contact before changing to a working channel.
An account of U.S. operations during Operation Earnest Will in the Persian Gulf in 1988 contains this description of a typical nighttime broadcasts:
"From time to time, the radio squawked, breaking the quiet with a burst of static. Most of the messages were fully routine, the expected traffic in a crowded sea. But every so often a high manic voice would break from the speaker: 'Hee hee hee! Filipino Monkey!' No one knew who the caller was, or what he meant by his strange message."
Some report that the phrase originated as an insult to Filipino seaman watchkeepers monitoring the VHF distress channel.
Read more about Filipino Monkey: Iran-US Naval Incident of January 2008
Famous quotes containing the word monkey:
“Do you suppose I could buy back my introduction to you?”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Arthur Sheekman, Will Johnstone, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Monkey Business, a wisecrack made to his fellow stowaway Chico Marx (1931)