hog [OE] This is an Old English word of unknown origin, not found in other Germanic languages. A number of explanations have been offered for the expression to go the whole hog, which was first used in the USA in the early 19th century. The earliest examples are in political contexts, so its origins may lie in the large political rallies which were then common. At these rallies various ploys were used to woo potential voters, notably the provision of vast quantities of free food: a whole pig—or hog, in American English—might be roasted. Another idea is that the phrase comes from a fable about Muslims in The Love of the World: Hypocrisy Detected, published in 1779 and composed by William Cowper (an English poet and hardly an expert on Islam). According to this fable certain Muslims, forbidden to eat pork by their religion but strongly tempted to have just a little, suggested that Muhammad had meant to ban only one particular part of the pig. But they could not agree which part that was, and between them they ate the whole animal, each one telling himself that his own portion did not contain the part that was forbidden. To live high on the hog [E20th] is to have a luxurious lifestyle. The phrase probably comes from the idea of eating the best bits of a pig, which were higher up on the animal, as opposed to the offal and trotters. The verb use, ‘to take all of something in a greedy way’, comes from the proverbial greed of the pig. It was first used in the 1830s.