it pays to increase your word power...

[Laurence Horn]

...but not all that much.

Today's new one on me was invoked on tonight's "PTI" (Pardon the
Interruption, a two-man sports talk TV show on ESPN).  Apparently the
assistant coach of the Detroit Lions, a fellow who has had some
problems handling alcohol in the past, was recently stopped and
ticketed for the offense of...Porky Pigging.  This was defined by the
PTI guys as "driving around naked".  But in fact, that would
represent a widening, as it were, of the original meaning, which
(according to both Urban Dictionary and common sense) involves more
strictly "to drive around naked from the waist down", as in the
eponymous innovator of the practice (well, actually, I guess Porky
himself doesn't do much actual driving).  Evidently, based on other
postings, the true porky pigger is expected to wear a shirt and (my
son informs me) a fishing hat.  Or, as one site has it,

...known as "Donald Ducking" or "Porky Pigging". The "official"
outfit is: shoes, no pants and no undies, a tie-dyed t-shirt that
hangs just high enough to show off one's...

well, you get the idea.

L

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