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by Anonymous on September 1st, 2005

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What is the meaning and origin of the phrase"when pigs fly"?

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  • by wickedwillie on September 4th, 2005

    wickedwillie

    When pigs fly is an informal way to joke that someone will never do something or something will never happen. Example: "Do you think you will ever work at that company again?" Reply: "When pigs fly!"

    You have to go back a long way to find the original of this idea. It seems to have been a traditional Scottish proverb, which was first written down in 1586 in an edition of John Withal’s English-Latin dictionary for children. This had an appendix of proverbs rendered into Latin, of which one was the usual form of the proverb in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: “pigs fly in the air with their tails forward”. If they did indeed fly, the proverb argues, flying backwards would seem a small extra feat.
    Another version is more famous, because it appears in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: “I’ve a right to think,” said Alice sharply... “Just about as much right,” said the Duchess, “as pigs have to fly.” Other forms that have appeared at various times include and pigs could fly if they had wings, and pigs may fly, but they are very unlikely birds.

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