J Walking

J Walking

Random Friday question

posted by David Kuo | 10:04am Friday November 23, 2007

I was crawling around the floor with my two-year-old on my back giving her a horsey-back ride when she said, “No Dad, piggy back ride.”
Where on earth did that term come from? Has anyone ever seen a pig giving a ride to anything?



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Doug

posted November 23, 2007 at 11:30 am


Well, on farms and ranches it isn’t unusual to put a child on the back of a sow and pretend it’s a horse, but that doesn’t explain why piggy-back riding is upright as opposed to on all fours like a horsey or a sow.
It explains at least as much as Dictionary.com, I reckon.



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canucklehead

posted November 23, 2007 at 1:02 pm


If you watched John Hagee, you would know the answer to this (and other!) deep theological question(s)! I believe the answer to this question lies somewhere in the bowels of Leviticus.



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Pete

posted November 23, 2007 at 1:09 pm


Hey, David, when I was little (and a young father too), “horsey back” meant the ridee was down on all fours. “Piggy back” meant the ridee was walking on two feet and the rider was hanging from his shoulders. Don’t ask me why that would be more like a pig, since I’ve yet to see a pig that walked on two feet. Maybe John E. was on target when he suggested it comes from “pick pack.” Sounds quite possible. – Pete A.



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Doug

posted November 23, 2007 at 2:53 pm


Coming from “pick pack” reminds me a little of the admonition in Exodus that an emer is the fourth part of an ophah.



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Thinker

posted November 23, 2007 at 5:20 pm


OK, My Nana and Papa gave horsey rides and my Nanney and Pawpaw gave piggy back rides. It was not necessarily a genetic difference, nor cultural – although Nana and Papa were from Texas and Nanney was from Oklahoma. Actually, that might be the solution to the problem. Texans gave horsey rides.
Then of course there is the possibility that great grandparents raised different animals on their farms.
But, if and when I am a grandmother – I will be giving horsey rides – there’s no doubt about it. It’s a matter of preference.



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canucklehead

posted November 23, 2007 at 5:27 pm


Lord – bless David today as he offers piggy-back rides to his mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law. Ans as the indigestion from yesterday’s turkey bowl crawls up the back of his throat, centimetre by burning centimetre, open the eyes of his heart to the clear teaching of your word which doth commandeth us to verily be vegetarians.
Shelah.



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Thinker

posted November 23, 2007 at 6:04 pm


OK, I now have the definitive answer – from my husband.
Piggy back rides are standing up – not on all fours.
Horsey rides are down on the floor and are often the cause of back injuries among older parents.



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HAK

posted November 26, 2007 at 9:36 am


Along the same line of questioning…Why do we call the girl’s hair style pig tails vs. a pony tail?
If a pony tail is all the hair gathered into one piece, and pig tails are the hair split into two and gathered- Why do we call it that?
Pigs don’t have two tails!



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