I heard recently that John Steinbeck was told by his professor that he would be an author ‘when pigs flew’.  And that when his novels were printed, Steinbeck inscribed them with ‘ad astra per alas porci’ (‘to the stars on the wings of a pig’) – brilliant!

It’s such a great image, isn’t it? Apparently ‘flying pigs’ have been used to express the idea that something is impossible since the 1600s*.  Of course pigs don’t fly everywhere. In Finland you should look out for flying cows, as in the wonderful phrase ‘kun lehmät lentävät’. And in Greece you might see a donkey up in the air. If you don’t believe me, here’s the evidence ….

*Come to think of it, at that time any suggestion that human beings might one day fly to the ends of the earth would probably also be met with the sarcastic response ‘yeah, when pigs fly… But that’s another story.