Where did Wall Street get
its name?
Free-roaming hogs were notorious for rampaging
through the precious grain fields of colonial New York City farmers. The
Manhattan Island residents chose to limit the forays of these riotous hogs by
erecting a long, permanent wall on the northern edge of what is now Lower
Manhattan. A street came to border this wall, aptly enough named Wall Street.
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 How
did “Uncle Sam” come to represent the U.S. Government?
During the War of 1812, a New York pork packer named Uncle Sam
Wilson shipped a boatload of several hundred barrels of pork to U.S. troops.
Because each barrel was stamped “U.S.” on the docks, it quickly became bantered
about that the “U.S.” stood for “Uncle Sam,” whose large pork shipment looked
to be enough to feed the entire army. Thus did “Uncle Sam” come to represent
the U.S. Government itself.
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What staple food was
provided to Washington’s troops at Valley Forge?
Salt pork from New Jersey was shipped behind British
lines to Valley Forge to feed the hungry Continental Army in the winter of
1776-77.
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Where did the saying “living high on
the hog” come from?
It originated among army enlisted men who received shoulder and leg cuts while
officers received the top
loin cuts. |
 Fact
or Hogwash?
When hot dogs were first sold, street vendors called them “red hots,” and they
didn't come on a bun. Instead, a pair of white cotton gloves came with each one
to keep fingers cool while eating.
Fact.
It happened at the St. Louis World’s Fair, where hot dogs were first introduced
to the public along with the ice cream cone in 1904. |
What’s the origin of the saying “a pig
in a poke?”
The reference is to a common trick of 17th century England of trying to pawn
off a cat on an unsuspecting “greenhorn” as a suckling pig. When he opened the
poke (sack), he “let the cat out of the bag,” and the trick was disclosed. |
What’s the heaviest hog ever recorded?
A Poland China hog named “Big Bill” weighing 2,552
pounds and measuring 9 feet long with a belly that dragged the ground was owned
by Burford Butler of
Jackson, Tennessee, in 1933. |
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What’s
the origin of the word barbecue?