A throwaway line from The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield" (production code 2F32, airdate 30-Apr-95).1 In this scene, Bart has been sent to the school nurse's office with a stomachache (that will turn out to be appendicitis).

  Bart: Lunch Lady Doris?  Why are you here?

Doris: Budget cuts. They've even got Groundskeeper Willie teaching French.
<Cut to>
Willie: "Bonjourrr", you cheese-eating surrender monkeys!

This epithet has seen increased usage among conservative columnists as the the level of anti-French sentiment has risen in the United States. Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of the National Review Online, claims personal responsibility for the wider currency of this defamation.

Indeed, since the inception of this column, I have been adhering to Al Bundy's immortal fatwah, "It is good to hate the French." I have made The Simpsons-derived epithet "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" an accepted term in official diplomatic channels around the globe.2

During a appearance on CNN’s Morning News in which he and Farai Chideya discussed political humor arising from the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, Goldberg opined

My concern that the cheese-eating surrender monkeys out there are criticizing us is so minimal that it's unbelievable. The French have a long-standing kick of anti-Americanism.3

Sources:
1. The Simpsons Archive, <www.snpp.com> (March 12, 2003)
2. Jonah Goldberg, The National Review Online, “The Goldberg File”, April 6, 2001, <http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldbergprint040601.html> (March 12, 2003)
3. Morning News, “Election 2000: Farai Chideya and Jonah Goldberg Discuss Political Humor and the Florida Vote”, airdate November 29, 2000, <http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0011/29/mn.04.html> (March 12, 2003)

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