There are Smart Pigs All Over the World (and Stupid Ones too!!)
The G20 represents the most powerful economies on the planet. Its 19 individual member nations span multiple continents, language families, and major world religions. They debate trade, climate, and global security, and they rarely agree on everything. However, there is one bizarre cultural consensus that unites them all: they all use the pig as a linguistic punching bag.
If we look at the idioms across all 19 member nations of the G20, the pig is universally drafted to describe humanity's worst traits. But also, as you'll see, there are Smart Pigs throughout all these nations.
1. The Deeply Offensive and the Taboo
In several G20 nations, comparing someone to a pig is not a lighthearted jab about eating too much; it is a severe, highly offensive attack on a person's morality and soul.
Saudi Arabia & Indonesia: In Islamic cultures, the pig is considered *haram* (forbidden) and impure. Consequently, calling someone a "pig" (*Khinzeer* in Arabic, or *Babi* in Indonesian) is a profound insult. It is used to describe someone who is deeply corrupt, vile, or morally bankrupt.
India: In Hindi, calling someone *Suar* (सूअर) is a harsh slur. It goes far beyond calling someone messy; it is aimed at their character, implying they are inherently filthy or completely lack decency.
Turkey: The word *domuz* (pig) is frequently used to describe someone who is exceptionally stubborn, callous, or greedy. The idiom *domuz gibi* (like a pig) paints a picture of a person who is utterly uncompromising and mean-spirited.
2. Stupidity and Sabotage
In East Asia and Eurasia, the pig is frequently the go-to metaphor for foolishness, ignorance, and incompetence.
China: Despite its lucky zodiac status, modern Chinese slang relies heavily on the pig to insult intelligence. The dreaded *zhū duì yǒu* (猪队友), or "pig teammate," is the ultimate insult for an incompetent colleague who ruins a project for everyone else.
Russia: Russian has incredibly creative pig idioms. If you know absolutely nothing about a topic, a Russian might say you understand it *Как свинья в апельсинах* (Like a pig in oranges). Furthermore, to sabotage someone or play a nasty trick on them is called *подложить свинью* (to plant a pig).
South Korea: The word *dwaeji* (돼지) is used casually as a metaphor for an obtuse, foolish, or excessively greedy person. South Koreans also use a variation of "pearls before swine," translating to putting a "pearl necklace on a pig's neck" to describe wasting something valuable on someone who cannot appreciate it.
3. Frustration, Madness, and Bad Vibes
In Europe, South America, and Africa, the pig is woven into expressions of anger, mental instability, and terrible quality.
Italy: The pig amplifies frustration. *Porca miseria!* (Pig misery!) is a standard, highly expressive exclamation when things go wrong. If you embarrass yourself thoroughly, you make a *figura da porco* (a pig's impression).
Brazil: Portuguese speakers in Brazil use the phrase *Espírito de porco* (pig's spirit) to describe a relentless troublemaker or a person who brings terrible, antagonistic energy into a room.
Germany: The German language is ruthless with its swine metaphors. If a product or service is *Unter aller Sau* (under all pig), it is of abysmal quality. To achieve anything difficult, a German will tell you to overcome your *inneren Schweinehund* (inner pig-dog)—a metaphor for your own lazy, weaker self.
France: The French target lack of refinement. *Donner de la confiture aux cochons* (giving jam to pigs) means wasting an exquisite experience or item on someone utterly lacking the class to appreciate it.
South Africa: In Afrikaans, if someone is acting completely crazy or has lost their mind, you might hear the phrase, *Sy varke is nie almal in die hok nie*—which perfectly translates to "Not all his pigs are in the pen."
4. Gluttony, Filth, and False Fronts
Finally, across the English-speaking world, Latin America, and Japan, the pig is primarily associated with physical excess, stubbornness, and deception.
The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, & Australia: The English-speaking G20 bloc shares a massive overlapping vocabulary of pig insults. We call stubborn people "pig-headed," messy situations a "pigsty," and when politicians try to dress up a disastrous policy, we accuse them of "putting lipstick on a pig."
Japan: The word *buta* (豚) is heavily associated with sloppiness and taking more than your fair share. In Japanese culture, where collective harmony and restraint are highly valued, comparing someone's greed to a pig is a sharp critique of their selfishness.
Mexico & Argentina: In Spanish, words like *cerdo*, *puerco*, and *marrano* are standard descriptors for disgusting behavior. They also share a famous proverb: *A todo cerdo le llega su San Martín* (Every pig gets its San Martín). San Martín refers to the traditional day of the pig slaughter in November, and the idiom essentially means that bad people will eventually face karma.
So, while G20 leaders might need translators to negotiate trade deals, they all perfectly understand what it means when someone acts like a pig.
Smart Pigs
Now, if you're going to be a pig, it's better to avoid any of these international slurrs. It's better in fact to build, provide and share, and that's how to be a Smart Pig. It's better not to listen to slurrs or negativity, but to keep going on your merry way being creative, sharing, building, providing for people, doing things with people who are not like you, creating and building things with people that are good for the environment and for human beings in general. Doing aesthetic activities in analogue is good for your health and that's how a Smart Pig takes a break.
There are Smart Pigs All Over the World
Beneath the ground, across ocean floors, and running through the remote corners of every continent, millions of miles of pipelines quietly transport the oil, gas, and water that power the modern world. But just like a living organism, these massive industrial networks are subject to wear, tear, and corrosion.
To keep them healthy, engineers worldwide rely on a fascinating piece of robotic engineering known as a **smart pig** (Pipeline Inspection Gauge). Think of a smart pig like dietary fiber moving through your digestive system—pushed along entirely by the natural flow of the product, sweeping the walls clean, and maintaining the overall "regularity" and health of the system.
Only, imagine that piece of fiber is equipped with advanced sensors, magnetics, and sonar, acting as a roving MRI machine for the world's infrastructure.
A Global Network of Mechanical Guardians
Smart pigs aren't localized to just one country or region; they are deployed across the globe in vastly different environments and climates to monitor the arteries of global energy and utilities.
Wherever humans extract or move resources, smart pigs are working behind the scenes:
* **The Frozen Tundras:** In the sub-zero climates of northern Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, pipelines face extreme thermal contraction and frost heave. Smart pigs navigate these frigid, remote lines to detect micro-cracks caused by brittle steel under extreme cold.
* **The Deep Ocean Floor:** Thousands of feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and off the coast of West Africa, subsea pipelines snake across the seabed. Specialized smart pigs are launched from offshore platforms to inspect lines subject to immense external water pressure and saltwater corrosion.
* **Desert and Jungle Networks:** Across the scorching sands of the Middle East or the dense rainforests of South America, pipelines span vast, inaccessible distances. Smart pigs travel hundreds of miles through these lines entirely untethered, reading the internal health of the pipe miles away from the nearest human operator.
What is a Smart Pig?
Early iterations of these devices were quite basic. Often made of straw, wire, or leather, they were pushed through pipes simply to scrape the walls clean. As they traveled, the metal scraping against the pipe made a squealing sound, earning them the nickname "pigs."
Today’s **smart pigs** are sophisticated diagnostic vehicles. They are inserted into live, pressurized pipelines without interrupting the flow of resources. As they journey across countries or continents, they collect massive amounts of data about the structural integrity of the steel.
How Do They Diagnose the Pipe Globally?
Smart pigs are long, cylindrical chassis equipped with heavy polyurethane cups that catch the fluid pressure to drive them forward. Sandwiched between these cups are arrays of non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies that find flaws before they become major ruptures:
1. Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL)
* **How it works:** The pig uses powerful permanent magnets to temporarily magnetize the steel wall of the pipe.
* **Global application:** Widely used across global oil and gas grids to find **corrosion and metal loss**. If the pipe wall has been thinned by rust, the magnetic field "leaks" out, and the pig's sensors record the exact location of the weakness.
2. Ultrasonic Testing (UT)
* **How it works:** Transducers emit high-frequency sound waves directly into the pipe wall and measure the echo time to determine exact steel thickness.
* **Global application:** Heavily relied upon in liquid pipelines worldwide to detect microscopic, stress-induced cracks before they can propagate.
3. Caliper and Geometry Sensors
* **How it works:** Mechanical arms or electromagnetic sensors press against the inside of the pipe to record its internal dimensions.
* **Global application:** Essential in earthquake-prone regions or areas with shifting soils, identifying where ground movement has dented, wrinkled, or ovalized the pipeline.
Why Global Smart Pigging Matters
Running a smart pig is a massive logistical undertaking, requiring international coordination, precise tracking, and advanced data analysis. However, it is an absolute necessity for global safety.
By finding a millimeter-deep corrosion pit in the middle of a desert or beneath an ocean floor, operators can perform targeted preventative maintenance rather than dealing with catastrophic spills. Because these devices ride the natural flow of the product, the world's energy supply never has to be shut down, proving that smart pigs are truly the unsung, globe-trotting heroes of modern infrastructure.
Smart Pigs and a Healthy Diet of Analogue Aesthetics
Now, as a Smart Pig who knows we need fibre in the diet to clean out the intestines, consider that every individual needs an occasional healthy analogue aesthetic break, to do something physically that is leisure that is healthy and pleases the senses, and that you need this break like fibre that cleans out anything that is stuck in your thinking, that is blocking your abilty to keep being a kind provider, a conscientious worker.
