Pig Pilots? When Pigs Fly! - Say What?!
Clip: Season 2023 | 3m 22sVideo has Closed Captions
Have you ever seen a pig fly?! Learn the centuries-old origins of this animal idiom.
If you say something will happen when pigs fly, it’s never going to happen. But where does that saying come from? From centuries-old Scottish writing to Alice in Wonderland, flying pigs have been talked about for ages. Hop aboard and hear why in this episode of Say What?!
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Camp TV is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN PBS
Pig Pilots? When Pigs Fly! - Say What?!
Clip: Season 2023 | 3m 22sVideo has Closed Captions
If you say something will happen when pigs fly, it’s never going to happen. But where does that saying come from? From centuries-old Scottish writing to Alice in Wonderland, flying pigs have been talked about for ages. Hop aboard and hear why in this episode of Say What?!
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[lively music] [speech bubble popping] [playful music] - [Narrator] If I said something was going to happen "when pigs fly," how long might you be waiting?
[dramatic music] - [Kid 1] I'm not sure.
[pigs grunting] - [Kid 2] 30 minutes?
- [Kid 3] I would just stare at that one pig until it started flying.
- [Kid 4] Like, it's never gonna happen.
Like, in your dreams.
[bell dinging] - [Narrator] Well, I hope it wasn't something you were looking forward to because saying "when pigs fly" means it's never gonna happen.
- [Mom] Joh.
[screen whooshing] - [Joh] Oh yeah, mom, I'll clean my room [dramatic music] when pigs fly.
[lively music] - [Narrator] Amazingly, lots of other languages use animals to describe something that will never happen.
[lively French-style music] In French, when translated, they say "when hens have teeth."
[hen teeth dinging] [hen clucking] And in Russian, [screen whooshing] "when the crayfish whistle on the mountain."
[whistle blowing] Both as unlikely to happen as a pig, an animal without wings, has to fly.
[pig crashing] - [Pig] So close.
[pig grunting] - [Narrator] To be honest, it isn't totally clear why we say "when pigs fly."
[screen whooshing] [pig graphic popping] One idea is that long ago, farmers used to transport pigs in small rafts on rivers.
And if it was really foggy, it's possible people thought... - Why those pigs really look like they're flying.
- I'd believe that when pigs fl-, fly.
Pigs fly.
Hmm, catchy.
[playful music] - [Narrator] But it is clear that we've been saying the saying for a really long time.
[playful music] [date dinging] In 1865 in Louis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," the character of Alice is rudely told she has as much right to think... - [Duchess] as pigs have to fly.
- [Alice] Of course, I can think.
I suppose you'll be a nicer person when pigs fly.
[pig oinking] [screen whooshing] - [Narrator] The first time the saying "when pigs fly" appears in print was way back in 1616 in a dictionary which mentioned an even older Scottish saying... - [Scottish Person] "Pigs fly in the air with their tails forward."
- [Narrator] So it seems people have been saying "when pigs fly" for over 400 years.
[pigs oinking] Now, it's not entirely true that pigs haven't flown.
- [Newsreel Announcer] Great Britain, November 1909.
This little piggy went wee wee wee all the way to the sky with the assistance of this man and the recently invented airplane.
Just a few years ago, it was impossible to imagine people flying, let alone a pig.
- [Narrator] What do you think?
Does that count as a flying pig?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually have a plane to catch.
- Attention, passengers aboard Flying Pig Airlines.
Uh, bit of bad news.
Looks like our expected departure time has been slightly delayed to... never.
[passengers sighing] - [Passenger] Every time.
- [Narrator] Well, I guess we probably should have seen that coming.
[playful music] [pig oinking] [upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [wings popping] [pig falling] [pig crashing]
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