Not only is it the year of the pig -- but a special "year of the golden
pig" which only comes once every 600 years. You will notice that many
people are trying to conceive children in Korea this year (condom sales
are down 16 percent) in order to have a child born in this lucky year.
From: Thao Tran (thaomt gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pignus
As many Asian countries aside from China follow the lunar calendar, I have
found it more appropriate to call it Lunar New Year as opposed to "Chinese"
New Year. The Chinese have invented a lot of things, as it did its lunisolar
calendar, but we don't attribute a title of origin to the majority of those
inventions. As an honorary pig, I felt compelled to send this comment;
otherwise, I absolutely adore this week's theme! Happy Lunar New Year!
From: Mary Stewart (indiansmary aol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pigsney
Many readers are probably familiar with the expression, "in a pig's eye" to
indicate you don't believe the speaker, as for instance, if he said, "I'm
going to win the lottery today."
From: Julie Snyder (jsny42443 aol.com)
Subject: porcine words
Porcine may not be one of the chosen "pig" words for this week, but it
always brings a smile to my face.
I teach nursing students. When my students are drawing up an injection of
heparin, I always ask them what it means when the medication label states
that the drug is made from "porcine intestines".
Most of them know, and some do not, but there are always a few befuddled
students who look me in the eye and, with all seriousness, say, "It's from
porcupines!"
From: Alan Freshwater (alan_freshwater moh.govt.nz)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--pignus
Speaking of the maligned pig, in Roviana, Western Province of Solomon
Islands, I heard from my in-laws a delightful story of how the early
missionaries had the native people totally perplexed when they spoke about
putting pearls before swine. This was because to the Melanesians, the pig
was a highly regarded and extremely valued animal, while pearls had little
or no value, not even as useful, for example, as mother of pearl from the
trochus shell, which was used for the beautiful inlay work for which the
area is still famous.
Understanding was achieved when the missionaries switched to speaking of
putting holy things (hopena) before dogs (siki). The dog was considered
the lowest of beasts. To call someone a dog was the gravest insult. The
only thing some might consider worse is to call them a crayfish-head (batu
hikama) because the head of the crayfish is said to be full of faeces.
A similar amusing historical anecdote about mixed cultural messages was
told to me of the time a British navy vessel came to pacify the natives of
the Roviana and Vonavona lagoons with a demonstration of power. They
shelled the villages of some 'troublemakers" but the captain of the ship
came ashore to deliver a warning in person to Kengava, the chief of the
Saikile clan. Kengava offered the captain a meal and served him in
person, seating him on a chair at a European-style table he had obtained
somewhere. Kengava stood beside the table while the Englishman ate the
food brought to him.
The British went away satisfied that Kengava had demonstrated by his
offering of food, and his servile attitude that he fully understood his
place in the scheme of things, while the entire Saikile tribe marvelled at
how Kengava had greatly increased his mana by having his distinguished
guest accept food from his own hands, and even more, increased his
prestige further by having the guest actually sit before him and eat the
food while he stood by, thus demonstrating Kangava's dominance as well as
his power and generosity.
From: Eric Shackle (eshackle ozemail.com.au)
Subject: Year of the pig
You wrote "If you were born in 1995, 1983, 1971, 1959, 1947, 1935, 1923, or
1911, congratulations... In Chinese astrology a pig signifies intelligence,
honesty, strength, and fortitude."
I think 1899 must also have been a Year of the Pig, because Olive Riley,
who was born 107 years ago, fits that description to perfection. She has
just achieved world fame as the oldest of the world's millions of Internet
bloggers.
For details and photos, please see The World's First Multi-National e-book.
By words the mind is winged. -Aristophanes, dramatist (c. 448-385 BCE)