In this episode I explain what the expression “to pig out” or “to pig out on something” means, as well as how and when to use it.

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Ep047: Expression – To Pig Out (On Something)

So, welcome to this episode guys. Another Aussie English expression episode. Today we’re going to do the expression “To pig out”. So, this is another animal related expression. Another animal related idiom or phrase. So, “To pig out”, “To pig out on something” or just “To pig out” in general.

So, what does it mean? “To pig out” if you think of a pig and pigs are big and fat and eat a lot. If you pig out on something it means that you eat a lot of something, you eat too much of something, that you make a pig of yourself. So, you behave kind of like a pig and you just keep eating and eating.

So, let’s define these words.

“Pig”. Most of you I’m sure will know what a pig is. It’s an animal on a farm that we get pork and bacon and other kinds of meat from. Um… they’re really big and fat, most of them that you will see on TV or that we’re familiar with will be pink or at least not very dark coloured. They’re often pale um… they make that sound “oink oink oink”. Um… French people use them, I think, to search for truffles. The really expensive fungus that is found in forests and they often use pigs to find these. Wild forms of pigs are hogs or boars and we have some in Australia. We have wild boars that are pretty dangerous that people can hunt. Um… so that’s what a pig is.

In the sense of the word “out” in this sense. Literally it means the opposite of the word “in”. So, if you’re outside you’re not inside you’re outside of something. You’re at the exterior, in the exterior, you’re not on [in*] the interior. However, we often use the word “out” with verbs like this and it doesn’t really carry that literal meaning but… it’s difficult for me to explain because it doesn’t carry the literal meaning of the opposite of “in”, but it’s just attached to some verbs that kind of give it the sense of going all in or all out. So, giving it everything. And so if you “pig out” it means that you’re giving it everything when you’re eating, you know, you’re doing something to excess. You’re doing a lot. You’re giving it your all. You know, so if you pig out, you’re really going at it, you’re really going all out with eating.

So, let’s get through some examples of when you would hear this or when you would use this expression. And, so, it’s associate with food. So, if you were say, at a conference, you know, you’re giving a talk and there’s free food and there’s free wine, you could say, “If the food’s free I’m going to pig out”. So, if the foods free [and] I don’t have to pay for it I’m going to go all out. I’m going to eat like crazy. I’m going to eat a lot of food. Maybe too much food and I’m going to behave like a pig. I’m going to pig out.

Um… another way of using it is just saying that whenever you say, get a food that you really really like and you can’t really control how much of it you eat. So, like chocolate, ah… ice-cream, pizza, any kind of junk food like that. You could say “Oh when I get this food I really just pig out, I can’t help but pig out, I can’t help pigging out”. So, “I love pigging out on pizza, I love pigging out on chocolate, I love pigging out on ice-cream. Every time I get these foods I pig out. I just can’t help it”.

So, when you use this verb if you say, “To pig out” and then you want to say the thing on which you’re pigging out it goes with the preposition “on”. So, you always say, “To pig out on something”. “Pig out on chocolate”, “Pig out on ice-cream”, “Pig out on pizza”, “Pig out on something”. But if you’re just saying in general that you’re pigging out you don’t need to say “on” anything. It’s just “I’m pigging out”, “He’s pigging out”, “She’s pigging out”, “Pigging out”.

So, let’s run through some exercises for you guys. And today we’ll just conjugate a few different phrases. The first one’s going to be “I pig out on chocolate” and we’ll conjugate that one through in the present tense.

I pig out on chocolate.

You pig out on chocolate.

He pigs out on chocolate.

She pigs out on chocolate.

We pig out on chocolate.

They pig out on chocolate.

The next one I’ll do conjugating as well, but I’m going to use the phrase “I’m going to pig out tonight”, but I’m going to contract “going to” and I’m going to say “gonna” as I would when I speak more familiar, more colloquial English. So, I would say “I’m gonna pig out tonight”. So let’s try that one.

I’m gonna pig out tonight.

You’re gonna pig out tonight.

He’s gonna pig out tonight.

She’s gonna pig out tonight.

We’re gonna pig out tonight.

They’re gonna pig out tonight.

So, that is “I am going to pig out tonight”, “He is going to pig out tonight”, etc.

So, that’s the phrase, the expression “To pig out” or “To pig out on something”, guys. I hope you’re liking these animal expressions, and stay tuned for the next one. Have a good one guys!