Posted by Andy Clayton on October 28, 2012 at 07:07:39 user cousin_jack.
In Reply to: Re: Crab Island's and Gibber's real-life prototypes posted by Mike Dennis on October 28, 2012 at 04:01:31:
I think 'Jacko' is a generic name for a monkey, rather like Dobbin for a horse, Buttercup for a cow, Rover for a dog, Tiddles for a cat. In the 50's I recall several storybooks and comics calling monkeys Jacko. It would be interesting to know where some of these names originated from. Probably from a celebrated example of the animal, either actual or fictional which caught the public imagination. Rather like calling short people 'Tich' from the stage performer who used that name. In the end the generic name becomes a cliché and passes out of use, if not absorbed into the language as a new word.