History Main / MessyPig

Actually, pigs are instinctively clean animals. But their habit of rooting the ground and rolling in whatever moisture is available creates [[CoveredInMud messy results]] in confined spaces. Also, thanks to their omnivorous instinct to probe and explore everything around them for traces of food, pigs love to make a mess by chewing things to bits and rooting around in the pieces. Rotten wood, sofa cushions, or especially straw are bound to wind up in a million tiny fragments when a pig can get at them. For a human observer, such behavior creates a strong impression of a messy, dirty, unhygienic animal. Similarly, their habit of wallowing in dirt is not without reason - a layer of mud on their bodies helps them keep cool in hot weather. This is particularly important to them because they are unable to sweat.

There's also the so-called ''{{Babe}}'' Syndrome: the tendency of city folk who have never seen a live pig in the flesh to think that pigs are cute and pink and make good pets. While pigs are very intelligent and can be trained to do tricks and such, the average barnyard porker isn't particularly cuddly. They can weigh up to a few hundred pounds and occasionally be quite aggressive. However, there are a few breeds bred specifically as pets, such as Pot-Bellied pigs, but these require specialized care that most people cannot meet.

Actually, pigs are instinctively clean animals. But their habit of rooting the ground and rolling in whatever moisture is available creates [[CoveredInMud messy results]] in confined spaces. Also, thanks to their omnivorous instinct to probe and explore everything around them for traces of food, pigs love to make a mess by chewing things to bits and rooting around in the pieces. Rotten wood, sofa cushions, or especially straw are bound to wind up in a million tiny fragments when a pig can get at them. For a human observer, such behavior creates a strong impression of a messy, dirty, unhygienic animal.

* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'':

* In the [[{{Feelies}} comic book]] included with ''HogsOfWar'', an early panel depicts a family of pigs at home before they have joined the army; the living room floor is covered with small piles of excrement. A later panel depicts the pigs about to parachute behind enemy lines; one of them says that he needs to use the toilet, but the sergeant says "You don't use the toilet! You're a pig! You do it on the floor and roll around in it! We all do!"

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* ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'': Once, Rocko complains that his house (which has reached TrashOfTheTitans uncleanliness levels) is a pigsty. An angry pig eating pizza responds (in a distinct New Jersey accent) "You got a problem with that?" and is kicked out by Rocko.

* In Book 9 of the ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' series, the Heffley's end up winning a baby pig at a fair, and are forced to keep it to avoid insulting the people running the fair. The pig ends up causing a lot of trouble and messes, culminating in the family leaving the pig at a petting zoo. Much to Manny's displeasure, since he and the pig had bonded at first sight. Circumstances eventually reunite the pig with the family, and they end up accepting it as a pet. The pig turns out to be pretty intelligent, since it only takes a few days for Greg's mother Susan to housebreak it. It even somehow figures out how to use the television remote.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

* Rasher, DennisTheMenaceUK's pet pig, spends most of his time wallowing in mud, occasionally with sufficient force to send large waves of it towards other characters. He also eats large amounts of garbage.
* In ComicBook/AstroCity story "Pastoral", Cammie sends an email to a friend in the city with a comment about how unpleasant real pigs are.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

-->'''Vincent:''' Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
-->'''Jules:''' Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* Gouger, Snouter, Rooter, and Tusker, who pull the [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Hogfather's]] sleigh.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* Aphrodite of ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' transformed a pig into a woman. She still think like a pig and dove into the mud in one scene.
** The episode before that had Hercules turned into a pig and he had rolled in a mud puddle.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
* Pig from the comic strip ''Pearls Before Swine''. While he may be messy, or not the sharpest tool in the shed, he's actually one of the ''nicest'' characters in the strip.
* Invoked in ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' when Roy asked Orson why pigs were so messy, and he gestured at the mudhole and said "We bathe every day!" While this is PlayedForLaughs, it's true; mud-bathing ''does'' keep pigs clean.

[[AC:{{Religion}}]]

## The prohibition is to set Jews/Muslims apart from their neighbors. While this is likely for Judaism (a common theory goes that the point of ''all'' Kashrut is to keep Jews separated from the Gentiles), it's less likely for Islam (which, for one thing, is a proselytizing religion, and for another thing, allows—even encourages—mixing with the other "Peoples of the Book"/monotheists).

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* [[Disney/TheLionKing Pumbaa]], though he's only [[{{Gasshole}} smelly and farts/burps]] a ''lot''. Then again, he's a [[FullBoarAction warthog]], not a domestic pig.
** You should [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs call him ''Mr.'' Pig]].
* Once, {{Rocko|sModernLife}} complains that his house (which has reached TrashOfTheTitans uncleanliness levels) is a pigsty. An angry pig eating pizza responds (in a distinct New Jersey accent) "You got a problem with that?" and is kicked out by Rocko.

* 2 episodes of the 1999 version of WoodyWoodpecker on FoxKids features a pig character as an antagonist.
* Meg kissed a pig on one episode of WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy.
* Hamton J. Pig from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' is an aversion, as he's actually a NeatFreak.

* Generally averted in ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig''… except for the RunningGag that "everyone likes jumping in muddy puddles".

->''Life is getting worse...''

There's one thing most people know about pigs: they are messy as hell. In times past, in some rural 3rd-world areas, pigs would even [[{{Squick}} consume the waste from the outhouse]].[[note]]It was FairForItsDay; it solved the problem of eliminating waste (similar to how in other places the pigs were fed not bodily waste but garbage), and the pigs got food and shelter.[[/note]] This AnimalStereotype is so prominent, it lead to pigs being almost invariably portrayed as filthy dirt-lovers.

Actually pigs are instinctively clean animals. But their habit of rooting the ground and rolling in whatever moisture is available creates [[CoveredInMud messy results]] in confined spaces. Also, thanks to their omnivorous instinct to probe and explore everything around them for traces of food, pigs love to make a mess by chewing things to bits and rooting around in the pieces. Rotten wood, sofa cushions, or especially straw are bound to wind up in a million tiny fragments when a pig can get at them. For a human observer, such behavior creates a strong impression of a messy, dirty, unhygienic animal.

There is also quite a common subversion of this trope: when the pig is obsessively clean, proper and hygienic, in a somewhat exaggerated way. Note that to count as a subversion, the pig shouldn't just be clean; tidyness should be one of the main defining traits of its personality.

There's also the so-called ''{{Babe}}'' Syndrome: the tendency of city folk who have never seen a live pig in the flesh to think that pigs are cute and pink and make good pets. While pigs are very intelligent and can be trained to do tricks and such, the average barnyard porker isn't particularly cuddly. They can weigh up to a few hundred pounds and occasionally be quite aggressive. However there are a few breeds bred specifically as pets, such as Pot Belled pigs, but these require specialized care that most people cannot meet.

## The prohibition relates to the propensity of pigs to harbor trichinella worms, which cause painful muscle disease, and can only be killed through thorough cooking, which (goes the theory) was not always possible in ancient times. Whether this is God protecting His people with his timeless wisdom or cultural wisdom being reinforced by (supposed) word of God is entirely a matter of faith. This theory, however, doesn't hold up to more recent archaeological evidence.
## The prohibition relates to the way of life of the Hebrews and Arabs. Both peoples originated in the desert and remained for the most part in arid climates, i.e. places where human vegetable food is scarce. Cattle, sheep, and goats do not eat human vegetable food, but pigs do; therefore, keeping pigs is wasteful, and ought to be avoided. Contemporary scholars favor this theory.
## The prohibition is to set Jews/Muslims apart from their neighbors. While this is likely for Judaism (a common theory goes that the point of ''all'' Kashrut is to keep Jews separated from the Gentiles), it's less likely for Islam (which for one thing is a proselytizing religion, and for another thing allows--even encourages--mixing with the other "Peoples of the Book"/monotheists).

* The Rashberry species in ''VivaPinata''. Their house is covered in mud, and eat rotten food. And when you cross-romance them with their polar opposite -- the perfect, dainty Swanana -- you get [[CueTheFlyingPigs something completely different]].

* The pig-people from the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' episode "Gaz, Taster of Pork". [[spoiler:Dib has to be used as their toilet brush...and heaven knows when the last time their communal toilet was scrubbed!]]

* Generally averted in ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' ... except for the RunningGag that "everyone likes jumping in muddy puddles".

* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Elfquest}}: Shards''. The tunnel Ekuar creates in an attempt to penetrate the Djun's palace ends up emerging inside a pigsty. When Drub the troll pokes his head out to investigate, the very first thing he spies is a pig's backside at extremely close range.

* Though not really the (dead) pigs' fault, the carcass-grinding Vat-of-Guts trap in ''{{Saw}} III'', which threatened to drown a man in macerated, decomposing hog residue, was one of the more revolting mechanisms in the series.

* Normally averted with Mabel's pet pig Waddles on ''GravityFalls''. However, when a FreakyFridayFlip swaps the minds of Soos and Waddles, Soos goes out and finds a mud puddle; "Do I dare live out the cliché?"

* The pig-people from the ''InvaderZim'' episode "Gaz, Taster of Pork". [[spoiler:Dib has to be used as their toilet brush...and heaven knows when the last time their communal toilet was scrubbed!]]

* Meg kissed a pig on one episode of FamilyGuy.

* Invoked in ''USAcres'' when Roy asked Orson why pigs were so messy, and he gestured at the mudhole and said "We bathe every day!" While this is PlayedForLaughs, it's true; mud-bathing ''does'' keep pigs clean.

Actually pigs are instinctively clean animals. But their habit of rooting the ground and rolling in whatever moisture is available creates messy results in confined spaces. Also, thanks to their omnivorous instinct to probe and explore everything around them for traces of food, pigs love to make a mess by chewing things to bits and rooting around in the pieces. Rotten wood, sofa cushions, or especially straw are bound to wind up in a million tiny fragments when a pig can get at them. For a human observer, such behavior creates a strong impression of a messy, dirty, unhygienic animal.

There's also the so-called ''{{Babe}}'' Syndrome: the tendency of city folk who have never seen a live pig in the flesh to think that pigs are cute and pink and make good pets. While pigs are very intelligent and can be trained to do tricks and such, the average barnyard porker isn't particularly cuddly. They can weigh up to a few hundred pounds and occasionally be quite aggressive. However there are a few breeds bred specifically as pets, such as Pot Belled pigs, but these require specialized care that most people cannot met.

There's one thing most people know about pigs: they are messy as hell. In times past, in some rural 3rd-world areas, pigs would even [[{{Squick}} consume the waste from the outhouse]].[[hottip:*:It was FairForItsDay; it solved the problem of eliminating waste (similar to how in other places the pigs were fed not bodily waste but garbage), and the pigs got food and shelter.]] This AnimalStereotype is so prominent, it lead to pigs being almost invariably portrayed as filthy dirt-lovers.

-->--'''Music/TheBeatles,''' ''Piggies''

* ''PulpFiction''

* [[TheLionKing Pumbaa]], though he's only [[{{Gasshole}} smelly and farts/burps]] a ''lot''. Then again, he's a [[FullBoarAction warthog]], not a domestic pig.

* The Green Pigs of AngryBirds.