Meaning of phrase

Posted by Gary on February 07, 2004

In Reply to: Meaning of phrase posted by bobby on February 07, 2004

: Can anyone tell me the meaning of the phrase
: "if wishes were horses, pigs would fly."

: Thanks in anticipation.

You've got two separate phrases muddled there. "Pigs might fly" is an ironic response to an unlikely proposition. For example, "Iraq has WMD that they might use to attack London" - "Yes, and pigs might fly".

The other is "If wishes were horses then beggars would ride", which is pretty much self-explanatory.

• Meaning of phrase ESC 07/February/04
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