“What would happen if pigs could fly? Bacon would go up”

A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.

Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.

Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.

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Entry from January 02, 2016

“What would happen if pigs could fly? Bacon would go up”

“When pigs fly” is an old saying about an impossibility and a time that never comes. There is a joke:

“What would happen if pigs could fly? Bacon would go up.”

The bacon joke has been cited in print since at least 1983.

Other “when pigs fly” jokes include “Pigs can fly…They just gotta pay for two seats” and “When will people stop eating ground pork?”/“When pigs fly.”

Wikipedia: Flying pig
The phrase “when pigs fly” is an adynaton—a figure of speech so hyperbolic that it describes an impossibility. The implication of such a phrase is that the circumstances in question (the adynaton, and the circumstances to which the adynaton is being applied) will never occur.

18 October 1983, Dauphin (Manitoba) Herald, “Dots ‘n dashes” by Blanche Brown, pg. B4, col. 1:
If pigs could fly
What would happen if pigs could fly? Bacon would go up! (Heard this on TV at the weekend.)

14 May 1995, The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, IN), “A Little Bit of Humor,” pg. E12, col. 1:
Jenny: What would happen if pigs could fly?
Justin: Bacon would go up.

Google Groups: alt.cloning
Calling All Greek Mythologists! and Flying Pigs?
sonny_jim
3/4/99
(...)
If the DNA can be made i.e. to make a flying pig, (the price of bacon would go up!) then potentially somewhere in the universe there already is a species of flying pigs, that also could potentially cross breed with humans?

Google Groups: uk.tech.digital-tv
OnDigital Remote Control Lockup
Lawrie Dale
1/21/00
(...)
If pigs could fly - bacon would go up!

Google Groups: alt.revisionism
What if Revisionists were correct??
Trevor McWilliams
9/6/00

wrote in message
news:15131-39B60073-1@storefull-172.iap.bryant.webtv.net…
> What if pigs could fly?
The price of bacon would go up

Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
Puns of the Weak: 12/07/01
Stan Kegel
12/7/01
(...)
What would happen if pigs could fly?
Bacon would go up. (Bree Schultz)

Twitter
DaveS
‏@EastOfAsteroid
@Bass_ If pigs did fly, bacon would go up
11:47 PM - 25 Apr 2009

Twitter
Heywood Jablomie?
‏@HoodCertified
What would happen if pigs could fly?
The price of bacon would go up.
6:43 PM - 7 Dec 2015

Posted by Barry Popik
New York City • Food/Drink • Saturday, January 02, 2016 • Permalink

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