I’ve put together a dictionary of expressions and phrases that use “pig” in one form or another. Not all of them complimentary about the person they’re referring to. An aspersion which may well be true of that person. But doesn’t apply to the pig.
Pig From Middle English pigge, from Old English picga or pigga, young pig; as a word for a young pig, piglet did not appear until the late nineteenth century. Before then, it might be called a HOGLING (14th C), a PORKET (1550s), a HOG-BABE (1600s), or a GRUNTLING (1680s).
Hog From Old English hogg, possibly Celtic in origin
Swine From Old English swin and based on a prehistoric Indo-European root
Pork Middle English, from Old French porc (which arrived with the Normans in 1066), from Latin porcus, pig, based on a prehistoric Indo-European root. Sus scrofa Latin for breeding sow
pig A slobby, dirty, greedy, or overweight person; the small car that travels vertically in the shaft of a coal mine; a tool or device used in pipes or ducts to check for corrosion, leaks, and other defects; a police officer
air pig A small round tank for storing air
guinea pig A small-eared, tailless rodent of the genus Cavia often kept as a pet and used widely for scientific experiments, hence the informal use of the term to describe the subject of any sort of experimentation
male chauvinist pig A male who acts in a superior manner toward women in the belief that they are inferior to him
Nazi pig, fascist pig An oppressive or dictatorial person
Pig-out Food binge
pigheaded Stubborn, obstinate
pig eyes Little or beady eyes
pig iron, pig lead An oblong block of iron or lead poured from a smelting furnace into a pig, the round mold into which it is cast
piggish, piglike Greedy or dirty
piggyback To ride on the shoulders of another
piggy bank A container for saving coins, as a greedy person might
pygg A clay used in the Middle Ages to make pots
pigboat A World War II–era submarine, descriptive of the smell found in close quarters
pig Latin A form of language, used especially by children, in which the syllables of English are transposed (originally, it was a secret version of Latin)
pigpen, pigsty A dirty or messy place
pigskin A North American football, now made of cowhide
pigtail A hank of hair worn straight, curly, or braided
pig in a poke Something not adequately appraised, deriving from sixteenth-century English: a naive customer would purchase what he or she believed was a suckling pig in sack; later, when the sack or poke was opened, the buyer would ‘‘let the cat out of the bag’’ and find out that he or she had been fooled
when a pig is offered, hold open the poke Seize the opportunity
a pig in the parlor You cannot change who or what you are (a pig in the parlor is still a pig)
like a pig in clover Happy, content, and living in luxury
slippery as a greased pig Hard to catch, from a contest still held at local fairs
Squeal, roar, or bleed like a stuck pig Descriptive of a pig at the time of butchering
sweat like a pig To sweat heavily—ironic and inaccurate, because pigs cannot sweat
if pigs could fly Not very likely to happen
pork barrel Costly or unnecessary project that rewards the constituency of an elected politician or government projects that benefit the constituency of a legislator; originally, the barrels that salt pork was stored in and dispensed from
porker An overweight person
BBQ, bar-be-que, barbecue Among the French in the Caribbean, a pig roast was de barbe et queue, or from beard to tail
can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear The impossibility of creating something fine out of something coarse
casting pearls before swine To offer something valuable that will not be appreciated
hog Originally a large steam locomotive, now a large motorcycle, especially a Harley-Davidson, also known as a hawg
chopped hog A motorcycle stripped of its heavy fenders and other parts
gas hog A large automobile with poor mileage
to hog To take more than your share of something
road hog A greedy, self-centered driver
hogback A sharp ridge of land
hogshead A barrel or cask of a liquid
hogtie To hamper or thwart, to tie all four feet of an animal together
hogwash Originally the garbage fed to pigs, now something worthless or ridiculous
sand hog A tunnel worker
Hog Eighteenth-century term for a shilling
go whole hog To be willing to spend a whole shilling, stop at nothing, go all the way
go hog wild To be lavish, extravagant, or act wildly
hog and hominy An old southern expression for everyday, old-fashioned good food and those who ate it
living high on (or off ) the hog To live or eat well; formerly, in the army, soldiers ate the shoulder and leg cuts while the officers ate the more desirable top loin
cuts root, hog, or die! Get to work or suffer the consequences; a common colonial and frontier saying
as independent as a hog on ice To act confident or cocky; the exact opposite of a real pig on ice
bring one’s hogs to a fine market Things are going well; an old New England saying
run like a scalded hog Formerly, after being stuck or bled, a pig was submerged in a tank of hot water to loosen its hair and bristles
The largest pig on record was a Poland China that hailed from Tennessee in 1933. Big Bill weighed 2,552 pounds and was 9 feet long. In more recent years, the largest hog was a Berkshire named Chief from North Lewisburg, Ohio, at 1,230 pounds. The most expensive pig was a crossbred barrow named Bud, who sold for $56,000 in 1985. Although the largest litter belonged to a LargeWhite–Duroc cross sow that produced 36 piglets in 1993, rare breeds have come close. In 1955, a Wessex sow gave birth to 34 piglets, and in 1971, a Saddleback sow farrowed a litter of 32 piglets. Rare breeds have earned other top honors. From 1940 to 1952, a Large Black sow farrowed a record twenty-six litters. In 1957, an Essex sow weaned her 18 piglets at a high combined weight of 1,134 pounds. In 1994, a Saddleback boar fathered three litters that were all born within a twenty-four-hour period, for a total of 52 piglets.
People have traditionally used most of the meat, bones, and other parts of the pig. Pigs also supplied bristles for brushes of all types, a product that is no longer available from the white or nearly hairless breeds. Pigskin makes unique leather: the hair follicles from the bristles allow the leather to breathe.Today, however, the pig industry boasts that ‘‘everything is used but the oink’’ and pig by-products are used in an incredible range of both medical and consumer products, some of which cannot be duplicated by synthetic substances: pigskin Garment leather, gloves, shoes, upholstery bones and connective tissue Gelatin, glues blood Sticking agents, adhesives, feed additives, fabric dyes bones Buttons, bone china, bone meal, porcelain, glass, water filters hair Artists’ brushes, hair brushes, upholstery, insulation meat scraps Pet foods, other animal feeds glycerine, fats, and other fatty acids Cleansing creams, cosmetics, perfume, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, emulsifiers, lubricants, polishes, waxes, waterproofing agents, insecticides, weed killers, antifreeze, nitroglycerine, matches, crayons, chalk, plastics, paint, solvents, inks, textiles, cement, rubber, cellophane, fiber softeners, linoleum, pet food pepsin (a digestive enzyme found in the hog’s stomach) Cheese, gum, digestive aids, beer clarifiers
The smallest breed of pig is the Cuino, from the highlands of central Mexico. Fully grown, the Cuinoweighs only 22 to 26.5 pounds. Through the 1800s, the Cuino was still a popular household animal. It is now extremely rare. Another small breed is the Yucatan miniature pig. This hairless, dark gray or black pig is raised for meat and lard and reaches a maximum size of about 165 pounds. The Yucatan is noted for being gentle, intelligent, and clean. The Yucatan was imported into the United States in 1960 for use in medical research. Charles River Laboratories, Inc., has copyrighted its strains of the Yucatan as the ‘‘minipig’’ and ‘‘micropig.’’ The smaller micropig weighs from 77 to 110 pounds. It is a viable animal, not a genetic dwarf. Efforts to reduce its size further are continuing. As a smaller and easier to handle pig, the micropig is valuable for laboratory research (fig. 26). Other breeds of miniature pigs have been developed specifically for biomedical research, including the white Hanford minipig, and the Sinclair, Hormel, and Pitman-Moore miniatures. In Britain, the Froxfield Pygmy is a cross between the Potbelly pig and the Yucatan.