Help me please

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Message de joy813 posté le 2004-08-24 20:24:46 (S | E | F | I)
Good evening everybody

I would like to know the difference between an ape and a monkey.
I went to Gibraltar to see the famous monkeys !!!
But I've heard sometimes, that they called them apes !

Nobody there was able to tell me the difference ... so I ask you !

Réponse: re:Help me please de bridg, postée le 2004-08-24 20:41:14 (S | E)
apparamently Monkey is a generic term and Ape is used for baboons
A+

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Edité par mariet le 24-08-2004 21:41
Excuse me, bridg, but 'apparamently' does not exist, you mean 'apparently'.

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Edité par bridg le 24-08-2004 21:51
je prends note, Merci

Réponse: re:Help me please de mariet, postée le 2004-08-24 21:40:54 (S | E)
Here are the definitions I found in the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary online :
ape noun
1 any of several species of primate that differ from most monkeys, and resemble humans, in that they have a highly developed brain, lack a tail and are capable of walking upright.
2 non-technical any monkey or primate.
3 a mimic.
4 an ugly, stupid or clumsy person. verb (aped, aping) to imitate (someone's behaviour, speech, habits, etc). apery noun. go ape N Amer slang to go completely crazy.

monkey noun (monkeys)
1 any mammal belonging to the primates other than a human, ape, chimpanzee, gibbon, orang utan or lemur, with a hairy coat, nails instead of claws and usually tree-dwelling.
2 colloq a mischievous child.
3 Brit slang £500.
4 US slang an oppressive burden or habit, especially a drug addiction.
5 the falling weight of a pile-driver, etc (see also monkey engine). verb (monkeys, monkeyed, monkeying) intrans, colloq (especially monkey about or around with something) to play, fool, interfere, etc with it. have a monkey on one's back US slang to be addicted to drugs. make a monkey out of someone colloq to make them seem ridiculous; to make a fool of them. not give a monkey's slang not to care at all.

Réponse: re:Help me please de joy813, postée le 2004-08-24 22:58:47 (S | E)
Thanks Bridg and Mariet !
If I understand well, there are apes in Gibraltar !

Réponse: re:Help me please de yannloic, postée le 2004-08-25 09:19:28 (S | E)
I can find the forum where I write that sentence: "A monkey is not a ape".But I'm really pleased to be read.

When I was very young, I studied linguistic at university. My teacher then often said that translator software could be trust only when that sentence could be translated correctly. I really understand now what that means. And I owe it to you. That's far more than it may seem. You also need artificial knowledge inside the software to explain the cultural signification behind words.

I profit of that forum to go further with the difference between camel and dromedary. I was told (by a Californian) that dromedary doesn't exist and you have to say one hump camel. Is it true ?

Réponse: to yannloic de mariet, postée le 2004-08-25 21:56:28 (S | E)
First, if you don't mind, Miss Fussy will correct :
- "A monkey is not AN ape."
- My teacher said that translator software could be trustED only when that sentence could be translated correctly. (I guess he/she meant : NEVER!)
- 'I profit of that forum..' As far as I know (but once again I don't know everything) there is no such verb as 'to profit'. If you mean 'profiter de l'occasion', it could be 'I seize the opportunity that forum gives me to...' for instance.

Now for the answer to your question.
I used a British English dictionary AND an American English one to check what I knew. They both confirmed there IS such a word as 'dromedary'. Here is the proof :

Chambers 21st Century Dictionary
camel noun
1 a large herbivorous mammal with a long neck and legs, coarse hair, a tufted tail and one or two humps on its back, which contain fat and act as a food reserve.
2 the pale brown colour of this animal.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon, from Latin camellus, Greek kamelos, of Semitic origin.

dromedary noun (dromedaries) a breed of single-humped camel, capable of moving at speed across the desert, and much used as a means of transport in N Africa, the Middle East and India.
Compare Bactrian camel.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from Greek dromados running.
Bactrian camel noun a camel with two humps, native to central Asia, widely used as a means of transport, and also reared for its meat. Compare dromedary.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from Bactria, an ancient country in NW Asia.

http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/d/d0395300.html
(Pronunciation Key)drom·e.dar·y n. pl. drom·e·dar·ies
The one-humped domesticated camel (Camelus dromedarius), widely
used as a beast of burden in northern Africa and western Asia. Also called Arabian camel.
[Middle English dromedarie, from Old French dromedaire, from Late Latin dromedrius, from Latin dromas, dromad-, from Greek, running.]

dromedary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
...The one-humped domesticated camel (Camelus dromedarius), widely used as a beast of burden in northern Africa and western Asia. Also called Arabian camel. Middle English...

Thanks to that research I've also learnt a meaning I didn't know for the French word 'chameau' : en imprimerie : Apprenti ou fonctionnaire chargé d'apporter les épreuves.

Réponse: to joy813 de mariet, postée le 2004-08-25 22:21:43 (S | E)
Definitely, magots are apes! For more information have a look at this page (either in English or in French)
http://www.sos-magots.com/leursmanieresdevivreang.htm
And for the anecdote about the fact that Gibraltar will remain English as long as those apes will be living on the rock :
http://francois.chavent.free.fr/Legende.htm

Réponse: re:to Mariet de joy813, postée le 2004-08-25 22:40:21 (S | E)
Mariet, I had a look on this site, it's really great !
Thanks a lot!

BUT

They speak about the monkeys Magot .
After that, I read this :
Barbary ape monkeys is currently species ....

So, it's a big confusion in my head now !
Could you, please, tell me what is what ?

Réponse: re:Help me please de domi68, postée le 2004-08-25 22:51:01 (S | E)
ape = magot in french(its a kind of "macaque". If I remember well this monkey has no tail)

ape monkey= le singe magot

Dominique

Réponse: re:Help me please de domi68, postée le 2004-08-25 23:33:34 (S | E)
I try to give a good explanation but I 'm not still able to do it in English
Sorry if I do it in French

Le singe magot est une sorte de macaque (dépourvue de queue) vivant notamment en Afrique du Nord. "Barbary" = qui vient de Barbarie. Barbarie est un nom anciennement utilisé pour parler de certaines régions d'Afrique. Ce qui me comforte dans l'idée (peut etre à tord)que ton texte parle de cette espèce de singes.

If someone is able to translate it in English, he is welcome to do it.
Thank you
Dominique

Réponse: re:to mariet de yannloic, postée le 2004-08-27 16:03:35 (S | E)
I have used "to profit" because I look first in the on line dictionary and I have founded that

tirer ou retirer profit de to profit from
but it was at the "profit" definition

thanks for the explanation.

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Edité par mariet
Please, allow me :
because I lookED first in the on line dictionary and I FOUND that (to find/found/found)
OR
because I HAVE lookED first in the on line dictionary and I have found that
tirer profit = to profit OK but that's not what you meant here (profiter de l'occasion)

Réponse: re:Help me please de traviskidd, postée le 2004-08-28 08:06:09 (S | E)
"To profit" est bien un verbe.

Réponse: re:Help me please de pj, postée le 2004-08-31 15:23:40 (S | E)
Within the suborder of anthropoids, primates are grouped into monkeys, apes and hominids. The easiest way to distinguish monkeys from the other anthropoids is to look for a tail. Most monkey species have tails, but no apes or hominids do. Monkeys are much more like other mammals than apes and humans are. For example, most monkeys cannot swing from branch to branch, as apes and humans can, because their shoulder bones have a different structure. Instead, monkeys run along the tops of branches. Their skeletal structure is similar to a cat, dog or other four-footed animal, and they move in the same sort of way. On the evolutionary line leading to humans, monkeys split off long before apes did.

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