Roger is right about 'monkey on my back' originally referring exclusively to hard drugs, i.e. heroin. I don't think it was ever used in any other context prior to the 1950s. Gradually the meaning was extended to include all harmful habits, e.g. alcohol, tobacco use etc. It is now used to mean anything that you can't easily shake, so Eastree's definition is not entirely wrong. You could say that a colleague or superior who saddles you with extra duties that you can't easily shirk is a monkey on your back.
There's another old expression that derives from this one and you hear it in old blues songs and some jazz standards -- monkey man or, more frequently, monkey woman. It means an addict.
"monkey" is in German ('Affe') an old-style rucksack, with a skin on it, used by boy scouts in the early 1900's (and the 'Reichswehr' as well).
Might be, there is some connection ...?
To explain my last response, you can see a "monkey" actually now an (German) ebay here:
link
Thanks for that, Walter. I had forgotten it. You jogged my memory. In the Latvian army, too, a soldier's backpack was sometimes referred to as his monkey (merkakis). This I know from my reading, having served in the US, not Latvian, army.
[quote="Roberta]Eastree, I think our posts landed at about the same time. I didn't get to see yours before I wrote mine. The monkey business (sorry, no pun intended) is the way I understand it. It could be regional. Or we could both be right.
Chicken Little had an acorn land on her head? It makes more sense than a pea. But I do remember pea from my childhood. BTW, I thought then and I think now that CL was one stupid boid.[/quote]
I think we're both correct ...
And yes -- CL was very stupid (maybe that's why a chicken was used? well, i'v heard stories ...)
The Chicken Little story works either with a pea or an acorn. It's not really slang though, its just a phrase. I think 'KBC' is the only slang term mentioned so far.
Maybe if you told us where you heard "KBC", we could help.
