A person who works on cars a lot is called
a grease monkey because your hands get full of grease. Never thought it was racist because the only people I ever knew called that were white, so I didn't make the connection people
make with Monkey being a slur against brown people. Also didn't think it was a put down on blue collar workers (of any race) because those were the only people I knew. It was just descriptive. It could have situational racial or economic negative connotations. Example: some wealthy person tries to put down any person working on their car by calling them
a Grease Monkey in a derogatory way...most mechanics take pride in their work and themselves, so that would be confusing, and really only prove the rich guy was a
pompous ass who doesn't know how to fix his own car.
My Dad and his brothers were
grease monkeys, so I learned how to
fix my own car.
