I’ve heard the term several times in my lifetime, but have never known what it refers to or what it means. Does anyone know?
9 Answers
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a person usually refers to his parlour as the nicest room in the house and is usually reserved for company, such as the pastor, ‘
When referring to a pig in the parlour, they are speaking of something that is more at home in a pig pen than in the parlour.
okay like a prostitue at a church quilting bee.
or a homeless person, eating lunch with the queen.
no insults intended, okay just making a comparison.
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Actually the truth of ‘pigs in the parlour’ is that some Irish families, poor because of Colonial rule, would in fact keep a pig in safety as insurance against such what turned out to be an inevitable disaster of a potatoe (correct spelling) blight, which, in fact hit all of Europe, but dessimated the Irish population, who were reliant on the Potatoe since they, under the control of English absentee landlords and the British military, were forced to export all other produce, corn and other grains, to the British Empire. The blight only affected the potatoe.
A pig was one like gold and if real trouble came they could sell the pig for good money, like a last chance against all odds, which was usually sending the younger fitter ones mainly to America.
So basically, take all the above theories, and when you see the truth, it’s quite clear who the uncivilised were, who let their ‘subjects’ die? An economically induced famine, a Holocaust, all the while they robbed everything, literally, from under their feet.
4 Million died or managed to emigrate in ‘coffin ships’ due to the famine, caused by the British colonial ruler, The coloniser quite readily turned it against their subject, pointing the finger, and said ‘look at the filthy Irish who are comfortable with their poverty’.
That, my friends is the nature of colonialism and that part of history, which has been rewritten by the winners, is something they would probably never want you to know. God save the Queen and all that.
Incidentally, Scalping was also introduced to native american tribes who would collect them from warring with other tribes – in return for guns and alcohol etc, that they had ‘done the job’. The roots of this ‘savagery’, which the coloniser introduced, stems from Medieval Ireland, where the (full head) of a warring chieftain or priest of high status, would bring financial reward. In America there were too many tribes and, you know, they all looked the same anyway, so it was not important to see the face, the scalp would suffice to keep count of the brutality.
Don’t ever forget that civilisation, as it is, based on colonial rule, is the savage thing. All the rest, the Native Americans, and the Indigenous and tribes of Ireland, were highly cultured and sophisticated societies before they were brutualised.
End of history lesson.
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Being 100% Irish, this is a tradition still holding in our family, having a pig in your parlor . When you get engaged( or now days,elope, buy a house, etc)you are given a Belleek pig for you parlor, from an aunt or God parent. It is a reminder from where you came. The dirty Irish were so backwards they kept pigs in the house, said the Brits and then those already established in the US.
It has been a very appropriate learning tool for our younger family members as they listen to constant disparaging of new immigrants. We remind them of the pig and what was said about their Irish ancestors as they came ashore to make a better life.
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Parlor Definition
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There are 2 kinds of Irish.
1- Pig in the parlor Irish. Unpretentious “real” folks
2- Lace curtain Irish. People who pretend to be better than the rest of the Irish.
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“pigs in the parlour” actually comes from the perception by the British [in the 19th and early 20th century] that the Irish were so backward they would keep pigs in the parlour.
We are talking about a rural and raped society which did actually keep livestock within the confines of the human dwelling. But Hey! They still do this in parts of USA!
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When pigs fly isn’t true. Pigs won’t fly. So if someone said,” Dad! I want a computer.” He might not want to get one. So he will say,” when pigs fly”. Which means never.
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pig living with parlor rully
not me
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This was no help