What does my hair have to do with farm animals???

Have you ever thought about the terms “pony tail” and “pig tails”?

What made me think of it this morning was that my hair is now long enough (again) to be able to throw back in one of those two ways. I love it because when I have a bad hair day, like today, I can easily toss it back (or up) and it is out of my face and looking good again. So this morning, I had happened to slip two elastics on my wrist before I left the house and ended up making use of them an hour and a half into my morning at work because I just couldn’t stand what was happening up top.

But then I was thinking about the term “pig tails” or “piggy tails” or “pony tail” and where those terms came from. I’m thinking those terms are fairly dated, as we don’t usually relate our hair-styles to animal parts much anymore. “Pig tails” must come from the curl of a pig’s tail (an undocked tail), seeing as how many of our “pig tails” have some curl to them. But what makes the quantity of two be named “pig tails” instead of “pony tails”? I, for one, have never seen a pig with more than one tail…I’ve seen a frog with an extra leg out the back, which could pass for an extra tail if seen on a pig, but never two cute curly tails on one pig.

“Pony tail” is an easier term to comprehend. Hair tied back quite resembles an actual pony’s tail. This expression I can understand. I am slightly uncomfortable with the thought of the back of my head being compared with a pony or a pig’s hind quarters, though.

So I propose a stand-off …the pony-tail is now going to be called a…well, I can’t think of anything better, but one of these days, little girls are going to realize the great humiliation of the “pony” or “pig” tails that their mother’s fashion them, and will be greatly offended. Any day now we will have to leave the farm animals’ bottoms on the farm and update our lingo. But for now, I’ll just enjoy my hair tied out of my face…pig-tail or not.