(Audio)Why Do We Say "Pig" on the Farm but "Pork" at Dinner?

   Difference Between Pig and Pork 

    Have you ever thought about why we call the animal a pig, but when we eat it, we call it pork? Or why we say cow when we see one in a field, but call its meat beef? It might seem strange, but there’s a fun and interesting reason for this. It has to do with something that happened a long time ago in England!

Pig vs Pork: Difference

A long time ago, in the year 1066, a group of people called the Normans came from France and took control of England. The Normans spoke French, while the people already living in England spoke a different language called Old English. These two groups of people didn’t mix much, but they had to find ways to understand each other.

The English people were mostly farmers. They worked hard raising animals like pigs, cows, sheep, and deer. So they used simple English words for those animals. But the Normans, who were in charge, didn’t work on farms. They were the ones eating the animals at big feasts. Since they spoke French, they used French words for the meat. That’s how two sets of words began: one for the animal and one for the food.

For example, the farmers said pig, but the rich Normans said pork when they ate it. Farmers said cow, but the Normans called the meat beef. The same thing happened with sheep turning into mutton, and deer becoming venison when it was cooked and served.

Here’s a quick look at how the words changed:

• Pig → Pork

• Cow → Beef

• Sheep → Mutton

• Deer → Venison

Isn’t that neat?

But what about chicken? That’s an animal and also the name of the food, right? That’s because chicken became popular as food much later, after the Normans and English had lived together for a long time. By then, everyone was speaking the same language, so there was no need for two names.

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