Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered

Posted by ESC on August 25, 2009 at 20:39

In Reply to: Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered posted by Robyn on August 25, 2009 at 18:59:

: Can anyone please tell me the orgin or who made up the phrase 'Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered'? I sure would appreciate any help I could get. Thanks.

Slight word difference "fed" not "fat." I'm guessing that it's got some age on it. If you're a pig, you want to feed but not get so fat as to become a candidate for slaughter at hog-killing time. Politicians who get too greedy can suffer a similar fate at voting time. I will have a look in my references. Saved this from a local paper a few years back:

Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered - "Rookie mistake. Rep. Dennis Keene, a Wilder Democrat, can certainly take some of the credit for convincing House Democratic leaders to fund most of NKU's (Northern Kentucky University's) $60 million special-events center. But his comment about 'pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered' when the Senate increased the funding showed that it takes some time to learn the ways of Frankfort." Frankfort being the capital of Kentucky. From "Fletcher finds his legs at last" by Patrick Crowley, Kentucky Enquirer, March 13, 2005