# Why the name "pigs" might have started.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 30, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786 "2003-09-30T22:19:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786/1 "2003-09-30T22:19:14Z")

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I was driving down the street the other day when a car crossed the intersection ahead that looked like a black and white without the logo on the door. I’ll swear the first thing that jumped into my mind was, “That looks like a Hampshire hog.”

For you city folks this is[a Hampshire hog.](http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/swine/hampshire/)

By the way, I hereby claim title to the most mundane and pointless post on MPSIMS this month.

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**Author:** ![Spellbound](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Spellbound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spellbound)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786/2 "2003-09-30T22:24:53Z")

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Huh.  
I always thought it was because they were stereotypically sitting around eating donuts.

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**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786/3 "2003-09-30T22:40:44Z")

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I’ve heard cops are called “Poulet” (chicken) in France.

Perhaps designating police officers as animals is a world-wide phenomenon.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786/4 "2003-10-01T00:40:49Z")

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If memory serves me, the use of the term _pigs_ to reference police officers began in the 1960s. One school of thought was that the riot police wore gas masks that made them resemble pigs. Another is that the term derived from George Orwell’s novel _Animal Farm_, where the pigs ran the farm and took away the other animals’ liberties.

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**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-name-pigs-might-have-started/204786/5 "2003-10-01T02:27:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cajun Man \*  
> \*\*If memory serves me, the use of the term _pigs_ to reference police officers began in the 1960s. One school of thought was that the riot police wore gas masks that made them resemble pigs. Another is that the term derived from George Orwell’s novel _Animal Farm_, where the pigs ran the farm and took away the other animals’ liberties. \*\*

I know that “pigs” didn’t originate because of the white band around a black vehicle. It was just a mundane, pointless thought that crossed my mind.

I save such thoughts to post here on occasion. Sometimes it’s real easy to come up with them because there are days on end when I don’t have any other kind of thought at all.