PIGS MIGHT FLY! (Mudpuddle Farm)

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Wenn Weihnachten und Ostern auf einen Tag fallen! ("when Christmas and Easter are on the same day") Italian – Common idioms are quando gli asini voleranno ("when donkeys will fly"), il 31 febbraio ("the 31st of February"), il giorno di "mai" ed il mese di "poi" ("the "never" day and the "then" month") and, similarly to Latin, alle Calende greche ("to the Greek Kalends"). To imply futile speculations, a common expression is se mia nonna avesse le ruote, sarebbe una carriola ("if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a wheelbarrow"). Obert, Julia C. (2015). Postcolonial Overtures: The Politics of Sound in Contemporary Northern Irish Poetry (reprinted.). Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p.44. ISBN 9780815653493. I've a right to think," said Alice sharply... "Just about as much right," said the Duchess, "as pigs have to fly."

This delectable tale bills itself as the Further Adventures of Three Little Pigs … Fantastic details within the pictures and clever word play make this a great take on the three pigs story … Guaranteed to entertain.” A correspondent recently drew my attention to a book by John Winthrop and wondered if it might be the origin of the expression 'pigs might fly'. Winthrop was an English Puritan explorer who settled in Massachusetts in 1630 and recounted his story in The History of New England, 1630-1649, which was transcribed from Winthrop's 17th century notes and published in 1908: The original version of the succinct 'pigs might fly' was 'pigs fly with their tails forward', which is first found in a list of proverbs in the 1616 edition of John Withals's English-Latin dictionary - A Shorte Dictionarie for Yonge Begynners: Latin – ad kalendas graecas ("to the Greek Kalends") signified indefinite postponement, since the Greek calendar had no Calends period; also cum mula peperit = "when a mule foaled". Farmer, John Stephen; Henley, William Ernest (1904). "Tooth (Hen's teeth)". Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of All Classes of Society for More Than Three Hundred Years. With Synonyms in English, French, German, Italian, Etc. Vol.7. p.160.

Pigs might fly / When pigs fly

This is my brand new book. And I thought it might be fun to read you a short excerpt from it, give you a flavour: Hindi - The common phrases are (1) सूरज पश्चिम से उगा है ("sun has risen from the west") and (2) बिन मौसम की बरसात ("when it rains when it's not the season to rain"). The second one is also used to denote something unexpected/untimely as much as improbable. The earliest instance of the current form of the phrase, albeit in the singular, that I have found is in a letter written about betting on the St. Leger by “ an admirer of British sports”, published in Bell’s Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle of Sunday 17 th August 1834. The fact that the correspondent used quotation marks seems to indicate that it was an established idiom (he also wrote, in quotation marks, “HALF a loaf is better than NO bread”): In Russian, a popular expression with a similar meaning is " когда рак на горе свистнет" (when the crayfish will whistle on the mountain).

It can't be long before another correspondent adds to the list of unlikely origins of 'the whole nine yards' and suggests that it derives from Winthrop's 'three yards square' flaming aerial pig. Carroll, Lewis (1991). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: The Millennium Fulcrum Edition 3.0 (PDF). p.69.

Well-Known Expressions

Whether Everett and his pals had been at the fermented cranberry juice or whether they were the first to record an attempted alien abduction we don't know, but we can be sure that their visions weren't the source of the popular saying. Ever wondered what happened to the three pigs after they had outwitted the wolf? No, they didn’t just live happily ever after – life’s not like that. Waldo, Woody and Wilbur (the pigs) decided to enter an air race building their own planes … You will have to read this comical story with colourful, expressive pictures to find out what happens. Great fun for all ages and abilities and good for sharing.” German – Wenn Schweine fliegen können! is identical with the English saying "when pigs fly", although the older proverb Wenn Schweine Flügel hätten, wäre alles möglich ("if pigs had wings, everything would be possible") is in more common use, often modified on the second part to something impossible, like "if pigs had wings, even your idea might work". Another phrase is Am Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag ("on St. Never's Day"). [19] Piedmontese ( Turin dialect) – An unlikely event will occur in the smana dij tre giòbia (the "week with three Thursdays").