Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?

Question

Got a list of things I didn't know I didn't know. I'll post the questions, you come up with answers, and I'll post the correct answer later today. Have a blessed day!

Chris M got it right

Answer 1

It comes from an interesting cultural development based on the term ''pygg''. During the Middle Ages, because of the expense of pewter, metal, silver and so forth, a clay that was called ''pygg'' was used for everyday culinary objects such as pitchers, particularly by the poor.

Thrifty housewives would keep any spare coins they may have in a pitcher, or similar receptacle, made from pygg and it became a ''pyggy bank''. Over time, the origin of the word was lost and it became a ''piggy'' bank as people connected the word with what they were familiar with. Naturally, it's not a long leap from there to having enterprising merchants and banks producing piggy banks to encourage people to save their spare coins and then bank them with the issuing bank.

Answer 2

Well, everyone knows that pigs are great at financial matters, right?

Actually, it is because metal cookery was very expensive in the Middle Ages, so the peasants used clay pots and jars. The clay used was called pygg. When a housewife put money aside, saving for a special something, she would drop it in a pygg jar. Soon, people were calling them pyggy jars, then pyggy banks.

By the 14 or 15 hundreds, people had forgotten about the clay, but still referred to household banks as pyggy's, which naturally led to someone making one shaped like a pig. The shape was popular with both adults and children, so it stuck.

Answer 3

Coin banks are often shaped like pigs -- Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense, orange clay called pygg. When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became know as “pygg banks”. When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a bank that resembled a pig. And it caught on.--

Answer 4

Going way, way back, there was a word in English, "pygg," which referred to a certain clay. It was used for making all kinds of household objects, including things for storing money. At the time the barbaric Saxons learned to write, "pygg" was probably pronounced to rhyme with "pug," but as the pronunciation of "y" changed, "pygg" came to be pronounced about like "pig," and the banks were shaped like pigs as a joke, or because of confusion of the meaning.

Answer 5

Could it be that a lot of people think the Banks are p.....s, so they would rather put there money in their own pig?

I honestly don't know. LadyG, and you do this to me first thing in the morning?

Bless you. You are special.

Answer 6

Because, They're called Piggy Banks. That's why they look like a pig!

Answer 7

Is that also why it is called "pork barrelling" when companies and individuals get "more than their fair share" of government money?

And I agree with bassetfreak about justme...maybe if we all pray just a little bit harder, it will ALL go away?!

Answer 8

don't know the answer to that one lady g , but i sure am glad somebody is finally awake this morning, i was getting bored and drifting through other categories looking for questions to answer.

isn't it FABULOUS about justme ?!

Answer 9

And what do I get out of it?

Answer 10

because pigs are fat