It comes from the Jogo do Mico children’s deck, manufactured in Brazil since the 1950s. In the game, the cards have animal figures and the player has to form pairs with the male and female of each species. But, in the deck, the monkey has no partner. Whoever ends up with the card in hand loses – that is, he pays for the joke. But be careful not to take a cat for a poke and confuse a monkey with a duck. The “pay the duck” comes from the work Facetiae, by the Italian Giovanni Bracciolini, from 1450. The text talks about a peasant who sold ducks. A woman wanted to negotiate the price of the bird with meetings between her and the seller. But they were surprised by her husband, who, unaware of the agreements, paid – literally – the duck.
