Meaning
A sarcastic retort meaning that whatever has just been predicted or promised is so unlikely that it will never happen; used to mock over-optimistic claims or idle boasts. The usual American equivalent is 'when pigs fly'. Humorous and pointedly sarcastic; almost always a retort to an optimistic claim or promise. Regional use: British English (US equivalent: when pigs fly).
Origin
An adynaton - a figure declaring something impossible by absurd exaggeration - with English records going back centuries. The Phrase Finder's earliest citation is John Withals' English-Latin dictionary of 1616: 'Pigs fly in the ayre with their tayles forward', a sneer at over-optimistic predictions that stayed in use for some two hundred years; Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia (1732) has 'that is as likely as to see an Hog fly'. The modern short form is recorded from 1835, when Charles Whitehead wrote 'Yes, pigs may fly, but they're very unlikely birds', and Lewis Carroll played on the idea in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Reference works often repeat that the saying descends from a centuries-old Scottish proverb, but no early Scottish text is cited to support this, so the derivation should be treated as asserted rather than proved; earlier English variants invoked other animals, including snails and cows.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- and pigs might fly
- pigs may fly
- pigs might fly, but they're very unlikely birds
Usage Examples
- 'He says he'll repay the loan by Friday.' 'Yes, and pigs might fly.'
- When the chief executive promised there would be no further layoffs, several staff muttered that pigs might fly.
- And pigs might fly, thought the editor, reading the publicist's claim that the film would sweep every award.