As a author - Fannie Farmer , I care for any chance to talk over my love of working the realm and caring for livestock . It ’s an accolade and exclusive right to share my limited cognition and experiences with an commit residential district such as the readership represented here .
But , also as a author - farmer , it ’s rare for me to underwrite the other love reflected in the title : my honey of words . The two are n’t exclusive — much of the language we use today was developed by a humanity much more invested in and involved with farming employment , and this agronomic refinement from the past times shows up in a lot of the accent and sayings still in use today . Consider “ low - hanging yield ” or “ arduous words to hoe . ” Both are phrases commonly spoken by masses who ’ve never fleece an apple from a miserable - slung branch or turned up ground ( and calluses ) with a woodwind instrument - handle implement .
I ’m a pig guy , though , and hold a limited affinity for porcine idioms . favourable for me , we have a slew of them are available to utilise throughout the day . This make sensory faculty , because at one time it was exceedingly common for phratry farm to enkindle pigs , which were referred to as “ mortgage lifters ” for their high profit potential . It seems like a lot of the great unwashed like to talk about the animate being , hence all the copper - come to set phrase .
So , just for fun , here are a smattering of my preferent cop - themed idioms and idioms , as well as a few related to reflection from my own time agriculture .
1. “Eating High on the Hog”
This phrase , usually calculate at someone living an prodigal life , refers to the choicest , and thereby costlier , cuts of meat a Sus scrofa can volunteer — tenderloin and loin roasts , for example . I raiseBerkshirepigs because of their ability to acquire more of these fine cold shoulder , though they also have a big enough belly , which is pretty small on a squealer , to furnish batch of delicious 1st Baron Verulam .
2. “Pig in a Poke”
The accent name to a person making a purchase wad unobserved and getting something deficient to expectations . It ’s assumed to come in from butchers enwrap lesser cut of meat in a pouch — a “ poke”—for unsuspecting customers . Today , citizenry see Farmer markets as more , not less , gauze-like intellectual nourishment reference , and I take my responsibilities as a market manufacturer very severely . No pigs in a poke here .
3. “Happy as a Pig in Clover”
If you ’ve ever unfold up a fresh eatage to a ruck of grunter , you know on the dot how happy refreshing forage can make them . This is one of the main reasons Ipasture my hog — I feel well raising hogs outside than in , and I take a lot of joy in watching them contentedly browse and rout for nutrient . And it ’s good for them , too : Ladino clover , in particular , contains more protein than Medicago sativa .
4. “Casting Pearls Before Swine”
This idiom usually means that a person is wasting his or her time yield something valuable to people who wo n’t sleep with what it is or do n’t want to employ it . So yeah , given the chance , pig will just exhaust your pearls . Pigs will eat just about anything .
5. “When Pigs Fly”
This is one of many absurdist idioms meaning “ That will never happen . ” There are a wide range of pig breeds , and folks can choose from a variety of orientation when play swine onto the farm . From hairy to heritage , spotted to bespeckle , it ’s not intemperate to find a bull you consider delicious , and different hog breed can render more of whatever substance you ’re seek . However , of the roughly 2 billion domesticated hogs on the planet , not to mention tempestuous wild boar populations , not a single one has yet oversee to grow offstage and take to the air . For now anyway , it ’s impossible . pig will fell , as it were , when pigs fly .
