An Oink of Pigs

Is there a oink of pigs in your story?  Do you have room for a farrow of piglets?  Or maybe your story has been invaded by a sounder of wild boars. Continue reading to learn some random facts about these animals.  After the random facts you will find collective nouns, phrases, town names, and writing prompts.

Random Facts About Pigs
The words “pig” and “hog” are associated with greedy behavior.  Supposedly, this is because piglets appear to be greedy when competing for food from their mother.  But the young of many other animals also appear to be just as greedy when it comes to nursing from their mama.

Pigs have a very well developed sense of smell.

Police officers have used them to sniff out drugs.  They have been used to sniff out truffles, a French delicacy. They can find things underground.

Pigs are extremely intelligent.  Scientists rank them right behind apes and dolphins. Extremely curious and insightful, they are supposed to be easier to train than dogs or cats.  I think just about any animal would be easier to train that a cat.  Pigs can even be trained to perform numerous tasks and tricks.  But they can be rather noisy.  Their squeals can hit 115 decibels. That is 3 decibels higher than the sound a supersonic airliner makes.

Hmm, have you ever thought about writing a story about a seeing-eye pig?  Since pigs are very social and peaceful animals, some people choose to keep them as pets.  Why couldn’t they be trained to aid those who are blind?

Contrary to the popular belief that pigs are nasty, dirty animals, they are actually quite clean.  They don’t have sweat glands, so they roll in mud to keep cool.  This mud also acts as protection against flies and other parasites.  If rolling in the mud was the only way you had to keep cool and keep bugs away, then I’m sure you would do it too.

What about the big ugly boars?  Is there a connection between them and the pigs kept on farms?  The domesticated pig has the boar as an ancestor.  Pigs and boars eat both meat and plants.

Did you know that there are twice as many pigs as people in Denmark?

And even though you probably wouldn’t have your pig work out with you, a pig can run a mile in seven minutes.

Pigs do drink like they have been exercising though.  A full-grown pig can drink up to fourteen gallons of water each day.

 

Collective Nouns
Below are some collective nouns for pigs, piglets, and boars.  Which one is your favorite?

a drove of pigs – Drove can be a synonym for collection, company, crowd, crush, drive, flock, herd, horde, mob, or multitude.

a drift of pigs – Drift is a synonym for bunch or cluster.

a flock of pigs – Just about any group of animals can be called a flock.

a herd of pigs – Many groups of animals use this collective noun.

an oink of pigs – This one is my creation.  I think it fits better than any of the others.

a doylt of tame pigs – Doylt is a variant spelling o doiled.  Doiled is an adjective and comes to us from Scotland.  It means stupid, foolish, or crazed.

a sounder of wild pigs – A sounder is a person or thing that makes noise, and pigs definitely do that.

a farrow of piglets – A farrow is a litter of pigs.  This one seems a bit redundant to me.

a herd of boars – You can call just about any group of animals a herd.

a sounder of wild boars – Wild boars would also make noise, so sounder would fit them too.

Hog and Pig Phrases
There are various ways of saying the following phrases.  Do you know of any other pig phrases?

Don’t buy a pig in a poke – This phrase had its start in England during the 17^th century.  When a shopper would go to buy a young pig, it was common for the seller to put a young cat, instead of a piglet, in the poke or sack.  When the shopper got home and “let the cat out of the bag”, he would discover that he had been cheated.

Fat as a pig – If someone is described as fat as a pig, then the person is grossly obese, maybe even so huge that he has trouble fitting through a doorway or sitting in a chair without breaking it.

Go hog wild – A person who is hog wild is out of control or wild.

Go whole hog – If you go whole hog, then you are extravagant in what you are doing.  It could be shopping, eating, or even cleaning house, but whatever it is, you do a lot more of it than you normally would.

In a pig’s eye – This phrase simply means “nonsense”.

In hog heaven – A person in hog heaven is very happy and having a great time.

Living high on the hog  – If you are living high on the hog, then you are living in great comfort and have lots of money.  This saying had its beginning with enlisted men in the US Army.  They would receive shoulder and leg cuts of pork while officers ate the top loin cuts.

Make a pig of oneself – A person who makes a pig of himself (or herself) eats way too much as fast as possible and makes a lot of noise while doing so.

Pig out (on something) – This is a different way of say make a pig of oneself.

Road hog –A road hog is someone who drives carelessly and selfishly.  A road hog does not take the safety of others into consideration and does not use courtesy when driving.

Squeal like a stuck pig – If a person squeals like stuck pig, he makes a long, high sound, usually because he is hurt or injured.

Sweat like a pig has more to do with smelting iron than it does with pigs.

Locations with Pig-Related Names
Does you story need a city or town with a pig name?  There are several of these already in existence. Do you know of any more cities or towns with pig-related names?

Hog Island, Canada
Bay of Pigs, Cuba
Sow River, England
Hog Island, Florida
Hog Island, Guyana
Hog Head, Ireland
Hog Island, Michigan
Boarhills, Scotland
Hog Island, Virginia
Hog Point, Virginia
Pig Point, Virginia

Writing Prompts
You could choose a place whose name somehow pays tribute to pigs or hogs, then make up a tale about the reasons it was given such a name.

Pigs are extremely intelligent.  There have been stories about apes taking over the planet, why not write one about pigs taking over a city or a state?  Maybe you could even have a herd of pigs or a sounder of wild boars take over the government of an entire nation.

Choose any of the phrases talked about in this article and write a story on the beginnings of it.  What caused the person who first used it to create it?  I’m sure your creative mind will have fun coming up with a situation for each of them.

You could choose one of the phrases or collective nouns and base a story on it.  Maybe one of them brings an idea for a murder mystery, fantasy story, or children’s story to mind.

Sift through the random facts about pigs and find one that really grabs your attention, such as the one about police officers using them to sniff out drugs.  Use this one fact and base a story on it.

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