# Casting pearls before swine **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375 "2002-10-15T18:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rtreeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@rtreeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rtreeves)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/1 "2002-10-15T18:22:27Z")
What does the familiar biblical injunction “…neither cast your pearls before swine…” mean? Why pearls? Why swine? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/2 "2002-10-15T18:30:57Z")
It’s a metaphor, meaning “don’t waste time preaching wisdom to folks who aren’t the slightest bit interested in listening to you.” Matthew 7:6–"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. " ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/3 "2002-10-15T18:49:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*It’s a metaphor, meaning “don’t waste time preaching wisdom to folks who aren’t the slightest bit interested in listening to you.” > > Matthew 7:6–"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. " \*\* No-no-no. The early Israelites were very fond of flying fishing. They’d go to lales, rivers, streams & the sea to cast their lines, & try their luck. They even began to decorate their fly fishing lures with silver, gold, & even pearls, just to show off! Then, they got silly. They tried fly fishing for rabbits, foxes, antilope, & even _posi_lope. **It worked!** But soon, they tried to “cast” to catch pigs. Now pigs aren’t kosher, & naturally the Lord was P.O.ed. He sent a plague in which all the pearl-covered lures were lost forever, & could never again catch anything even if somebody else tried to make one. And the moral of our parable is : Fishermen tell the best stories, but **don’t you believe them!** 😉 😃 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/4 "2002-10-15T18:56:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*It’s a metaphor, meaning “don’t waste time preaching wisdom to folks who aren’t the slightest bit interested in listening to you.” > > Matthew 7:6–"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. " \*\* No-no-no. The early Israelites were very fond of flying fishing. They’d go to lakes, rivers, streams & the sea to cast their lines, & try their luck. They even began to decorate their fly fishing lures with silver, gold, & even pearls, just to show off! Then, they got silly. They tried fly fishing for rabbits, foxes, antilope, & even _posi_lope. **It worked!** But soon, they tried to “cast” to catch pigs. Now pigs aren’t kosher, & naturally the Lord was P.O.ed. He sent a plague in which all the pearl-covered lures were lost forever, & could never again catch anything even if somebody else tried to make one. And the moral of our parable is : Fishermen tell the best stories, but **don’t you believe them!** 😉 😃 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/5 "2002-10-15T19:18:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor \* > \*\* > Then, they got silly. They tried fly fishing for rabbits, foxes, antilope, & even _posi_lope. \*\* Ooh, I bet an antilope/posilope collsion was behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/6 "2002-10-15T21:10:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Ooh, I bet an antilope/posilope collsion was behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah I heard it was an army of flying pigs intent on collecting their jewelry tribute. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/7 "2002-10-16T12:39:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\* > > Ooh, I bet an antilope/posilope collsion was behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah \*\* No-no-no. _posi_lope + _anti_lope = jacklope see here [http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm](http://www.sudftw.com/jackcon.htm) for evidence of the great Jackalope conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/8 "2002-10-16T12:55:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\* > > I heard it was an army of flying pigs intent on collecting their jewelry tribute. \*\* Oh by the way, which one’s Pink? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rtreeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@rtreeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rtreeves)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/9 "2002-10-16T13:44:18Z")
I’ve heard it used in the following context: uncultivated people lack the willingness or ability to appreciate the value of an object or a service that you propose. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/10 "2002-10-16T13:44:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > Oh by the way, which one’s Pink? Hey, C-verse, I know where that comes from and I’m still baffled as to why you stuck it in here 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/11 "2002-10-16T15:08:04Z")
A similar expression, but “folksier:” I used to work with a guy who was, shall we say, technologically challenged. If anyone tried to explain any computer-related stuff to him, he’d say that it was “like giving a pig a songbook.” ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2002, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/casting-pearls-before-swine/132375/12 "2002-10-16T16:28:42Z")
The songbook remark brings up another variant - “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It’s a waste of time, and it annoys the pig.” From the “Notebooks of Lazarus Long”, but I don’t think Heinlein coined it. The Pink Floyd reference is based on the “Pigs on the Wing” motif they used. Of course, I really like Dorothy Parker’s use of the phrase - upon having a door held for her by a wealthy socialite who motioned her through saying “Age before beauty”, Parker swept through the door with “Yes, and pearls before swine.”. Some tellings claim the victim to have been Claire Booth Luce.