"He doesn’t buy peanuts when he goes to the circus. He calls them monkeynuts, and to eat them publicly is infra dig."
I never heard "monkeynuts". I remember seeing UK use of "groundnuts" for peanuts shortly after WWII. The Labor
Party wasted a lot of money trying to grow them on a large
scale in North Africa. I remember a movie in which this was
called a "ghastly failure".The proponents had made no study
of the soil and weather required to raise groundnuts.

infra dig?

infra dig., infra dignitatem: Beneath one's dignity.

ah, thanks, Dr. Bill. that's a new one to me.

New to me, too, Dr Bill. I like it. What are you quoting from?

Dear AS: I'm reading Mencken's The American Language.

ground nuts is the term used on the ivory/gold coast for peanuts, (the climate there works.) they are valued because the nut does grow under the ground is 'safe' from many scavengers (birds, other animals)
groundnut stew (chicken, peanut butter, chili's, and red palm oil are primary ingredients, along with any vegetables on hand)

Dear of troy: When any crop is harvested, it is important to get up all of the crop, as leaving residues fosters development of fungus that could spoil next crop.
In US, peanut farmers turn pigs onto the fields. The pigs do a very good job of finding and eating all the buried peanuts. And it puts weight on the pigs. Fat, to be sure,
but in Africa fat is not undesirable.

I've certainly heard of monkey nuts, but I didn't know they were the same thing as peanuts.

Bingley