Never Say Monkey! Japan's Strangest Mountain Superstitions (Ep. 201)

Back in the day, hunters were warned against saying the word monkey, saru.

It was unlucky, and if you uttered it, it might bring injury or an unsuccessful hunt.

Now remember, the word saru sounds like the same word for to leave or to depart, and it's also a euphemism for death.

So waking up and talking about monkeys, as we all do, but especially hunters, is basically inviting departure, an accident, or someone's demise.

Now here's the fun part.

Maybe you need to talk about a monkey.

Maybe your friend is getting their pack ready, and you see a face-eating monkey on the branch right over their shoulder.

And what do you do? What do you say? Instead of, look, saru, you'd say, look, eteko.

Suddenly, the monkey has a new name.

This is interesting.

Ete means forte or specialty or strength.

Since monkeys are clever and good with things, it's used to refer to them.

Ko is a suffix used to personify something.

It can be affectionate or a little mocking, depending on its usage.

But in this case, think of eteko as something like Mr. Monkey or Monkey Boy.

Even monkey trainers or sarumawashi would use eteko because again, saru, being a homophone meaning to leave, might mysteriously encourage money to leave their pocketbooks.

So rule number one, don't talk about monkeys before or while going up into the mountains.

And if you absolutely have to, remember the line, there's an eteko behind you.

Back in the day, hunters were warned against saying the word monkey, saru.

It was unlucky, and if you uttered it, it might bring injury or an unsuccessful hunt.

Now remember, the word saru sounds like the same word for to leave or to depart, and it's also a euphemism for death.

So waking up and talking about monkeys, as we all do, but especially hunters, is basically inviting departure, an accident, or someone's demise.

Now here's the fun part.

Maybe you need to talk about a monkey.

Maybe your friend is getting their pack ready, and you see a face-eating monkey on the branch right over their shoulder.

And what do you do? What do you say? Instead of, look, saru, you'd say, look, eteko.

Suddenly, the monkey has a new name.

This is interesting.

Ete means forte or specialty or strength.

Since monkeys are clever and good with things, it's used to refer to them.

Ko is a suffix used to personify something.

It can be affectionate or a little mocking, depending on its usage.

But in this case, think of eteko as something like Mr. Monkey or Monkey Boy.

Even monkey trainers or sarumawashi would use eteko because again, saru, being a homophone meaning to leave, might mysteriously encourage money to leave their pocketbooks.

So rule number one, don't talk about monkeys before or while going up into the mountains.

And if you absolutely have to, remember the line, there's an eteko behind you.