Monkey see, monkey do

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Monkey see, monkey do is a saying that popped up in American culture in the early 1920s. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works.

The saying probably originates from the folklore of Mali, West Africa, made well-known by Esphyr Slobodkina's retelling, which she calls Caps for Sale (A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business). There are also various other versions of this folklore.

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