The Fair’s Greased Pig Contest will be held on Saturday October 5th following the Livestock Show Sponsored byBrewen Processing and Catering Livestock Arena
I Luvs Yuh Like A Pig Luvs De Mud
I find it quite remarkable how certain aromas, even those that are rather disagreeable, have the capability of triggering powerfully emotional memories. For example, whenever I smell a gardenia my mind is flooded with lovely memories of my mother wearing exquisite scented corsages from my father. Likewise, picking up something that smells like my mother and father’s home, always elicits sweet comments from one of my children.
On the other hand, even less desirable odors like sweaty bodies, call to mind wonderfully pleasant recollections of my children’s smudged faces beaded with perspiration from playing under the summer’s hot sun. The same is true when I pass someone who reeks of too much perfume. Instead of turning up my nose, I am immediately transported to the back seat of my father’s shiny Hudson. Eagerly watching for my Aunt Francis, I see her come into view on my father’s arm, all dolled up in high heels, jewels, and a fox fur that had the ability of leaving me spell bound until the trance was suddenly broken by the heady perfume that smacked me in the face long before the soft fascinating fur brushed my tender cheek. Engulfed, once again, by her portly figure. I can feel her hearty hug, and just as if it were yesterday, I hear her jovial greeting of Candy, you’re just as cute as a bug’s ear.
At the time, I loved her affection and thought highly of her praise. After all, she was the only one who expressed her affection for me in quite that way. She was also the only one who allowed me to slide across her highly polished floors in my stocking feet, wind up the little bird that sang in her golden cage, and stroke that amazing fox fur of hers. But as I got older and discovered that bugs don’t really have ears, I began to wonder what she truly meant by that remark.
As I searched for the meaning of as cute as a bug’s ear, I found that the phrase related to cute as a button, cute as a cupcake, and cute as a kitten. I love old buttons and actually keep a large tin of them but no matter how beautiful, I never considered them cute. I don’t even think cupcakes are cute-and I love those, too. Pretty, appetizing, and delicious, yes, but hardly cute. Kittens, on the other hand, are cute! But what did this have to do with cute as a bug’s ear?
Apparently, the phrase began as acute as a bug’s ear, because they could identify miniscule and high-pitched sounds. Cute was as synonym for acute in the 1700’s in England…as sharp, quick-witted, shrewd. An early example of ‘cute as bug’s ear’ is found in a story in the South Carolina newspaper the Charleston Sunday News, June 1891: Imogene McGinty is as cute as a bug’s ear. From around that time onwards, in the USA, the ‘pretty; charming’ meaning of cute began to supersede the previous ‘acute’ meaning.www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-cute-as-a-bugs-ear.htm
I was glad to know that! Interested in the origins of words and phrases, this is just one of many that I have looked up over the years. Take for instance a relatively simple phrase ‘By and large’. Where exactly did that come from, I wondered? Surprisingly it is a nautical term that dates back to the 16th century. Mariners used ‘by’ to describe ships sailing into the wind while ‘large’ referred to vessels that had the wind at their backs. Seafarers, then, used ‘by and large’ to describe cruising the seas in every direction according to the wind. Today, it has come to mean “all things considered” or “for the most part”.
Have you wondered what people meant when they said that they felt ‘fair to middling’? Referring to grading farmer’s cotton at the market in the south during the 1800 and 1900’s, ‘fair and middling’ ratings meant that the cotton was poor in quality. Therefore, someone who uses those terms to describe their health means that they are feeling rather poorly. I was certainly glad to know that because I always thought that they meant that they were fine. Now I express compassion to the ‘fair to middling’ crowd and tell them how sorry I am that they are feeling poorly.
How often did you tell your kiddos ‘goodnight, sleep tight’, when in fact you really did not know what it meant? Before our present day’s sturdy box springs, mattresses rested on ropes tied to a bed frame. For a comfortable night’s rest, the ropes needed tightening thus ‘goodnight, sleep tight’.
And what does ‘raining cats and dogs’ mean? Upon further investigation, cats and dogs would snuggle in their owner’s thatched roofs at night to keep warm. During downpours, the animals often slipped off the roof in the rain. Wow, how sad is that! Certainly not a phrase that you will hear me using in the future!
Other phrases over the course of time are the result of observation during life’s experiences. That in fact is what has happened since I moved to a farm. ‘Making hay while the sun shines’ became reality when we began mowing, raking, baling, and hauling hay. To avoid ruined hay, I realized how essential the sun is to curing and keeping it dry. And as I witnessed our bees busily buzzing from flower to flower, I fully understood the declaration ‘as busy as a bee’.
Owning pigs has also brought to mind a whole new level of understanding to expressions like ‘hog wild’, ‘hogging all the food’, ‘wallowing in sin’, and ‘luvs yuh like a pig luvs de mud’. Hogs do indeed go wild over food, and if it must be shared with more than one pig, a lot of loud snorting and shoving takes place at the feed trough. And let me tell you, three to six hundred pounds of pure lard in shovel mode is definitely something to behold.
Most people think that they understand what it means to wallow in sin, but that statement takes on a whole new level of understanding when you actually witness a pig rolling about in the mud, which brings me to the point of this story.
Of all of the prior expressions, I never really thought much about the saying, ‘I luvs yuh like a pig luvs de mud’ because it was not really something that I would ever say to someone. But knowing pigs as I do now, I can tell you most emphatically that telling someone that you love them to the moon and back has nothing on luvs yuh like a pig luvs de mud.
Pigs-which describes any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates- or more simply put-all manner of swine-of all ages-love mud. I am not talking about love, as we generally perceive it. I love my flannel sheets to the point of rubbing my legs all over the soft fibers every time I slip into bed-something akin to a cat rubbing its owners’ shins-but this does not even come close to pig’s love of mud. We are not talking about like, fondness, or appreciation, but an ardent adoration that borders on idolatry, second only to their robust appetite for food.
With abandon, they fling themselves full length into a mud hole, and with the sheer enthusiasm only pigs exhibit, flop and then wiggle and jiggle until they find just the right amount of cush-not like the son of Ham or the ancient region of northeast Africa-but short for cushy-like in real comfort. Squealing with delight, they get up and flop down on the other side and nestle into the oozing muck until they feel quite satisfied. And this, I might add, is all done with smiles on their faces. Yes, this is true! Pigs smile when they wallow in the mud they love so much.
So just like there is more to as ‘cute as a bug’s ear’, there is much, much, more than meets the ear with this one. Therefore, if someone tells you that they ‘luvs yuh like a pig luvs de mud’, resist feelings of offense, and instead, hug them tightly as you count your blessings because they truly luvs yuh!
Ah, farm life is the life for me!