We humans and animals.
My blog functions as an illustrated logbook: a collection of many kinds of relationships between mankind and ‘beasts’, from the funny to the hopeful – from plain weird to questionable.
I am not trying to suggest what is right or wrong. Rather, I want to give you more insight into what we humans do with and make out of animals. In the category In Conversation I also talk to people from all walks of life. Their statements show what animals mean to them.
It all started, when my boyfriend and I were on a road trip. We were stuck in a humongous traffic jam on the highway. Sadly, a beer truck had overturned. The two of us started asking ourselves: what actually happens to male baby chicks? We knew, of course, that they cannot lay eggs. So obviously, male chicks do not end up in egg farms.
This started my journey of researching the vast variety of interactions between us humans and cows, sheep, dik-diks, guinea pigs, lumpsuckers, chicken turtles, pink fairy armadillos, wobbegongs, white-bellied go-away-birds…
PIG IN A BLOG is derived from the idiom ‘a pig in a poke’. The word ‘poke’ originates from the French ‘poque’, which means sack or bag. But, said pig may not be a pig at all! The phrase dates back to the Medieval Era. Pig meat was hard to come by. Cats and dogs, on the other hand, were a-plenty. So naturally, they were often traded as pork by some sneaky rascals.
The idiom’s message? Look inside the sack to see what you are about to buy! Similar expressions in other languages also share the same story: the German ‘Die Katze im Sack kaufen’, for example, warns about the cat in the sack.
PIG IN A BLOG actually looks into that sack: I am interested in the story behind the story. Every article is extensively researched and cited with references.
By the way, here are some alternative names that did not make the cut:
