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Kurs: -- English - Intermediate Materijali vezani uz ovu lekciju: - Test piggy bank - Test piggy bank - Piggy Bank (PDF dokument) You probably had at least one piggy bank in your life and if you have kids they probably had few. But, have you ever thought about its name. Why are they called piggy banks? What does a pig have to do with saving money?! A pig would definitely be the last animal I’d associate with savings! Why not doggy bank, bunny bank, why an animal at all?! I have always been a curious person, so I did some piggy bank research and have learned some very interesting things. My mother got a lovely, ceramic piggy bank when she was a kid. As you know, those ceramic piggy banks don't have an opening to remove the money. The theory goes that this is to serve as a lesson in finances for children. The piggy bank enables a child to save money but forces him or her to justify its spending as in order to access the money he needs to break his piggy bank. This lesson seems to have been forgotten by many adults! Maybe we should keep a piggy bank in our front foyer and deposit our loose change as we come home each day! But the question still remains, why is it called a piggy bank and why is it in the shape of a pig? The original piggy bank had absolutely nothing to do with a pig! In the Middle Ages, when metal was expensive, an inexpensive, orange colored clay, called pygg, was the common media for making pots and jars, and was referred to as a pygg jar, for example. One of these jars was often used to hold coins. Eventually, the pygg jar or pygg bank used for coins, surely accidentally, became known as a pig bank or piggy bank! The general consensus is that this evolution transpired a few hundred years ago in England when craftsmen were hired to make pygg banks and not being familiar with pygg they made pig shaped banks. The oldest recorded piggy bank in the shape of a pig is claimed to be 1500 years old from Indonesia. Perhaps there was a connection between the pig and saving money in their culture. Understandably, the piggy bank is not popular in all cultures. The pig is considered an impure animal according to the Old Testament and hence is not owned, eaten nor benefited by Jews. Similarly, Islam forbids the eating of pork due to being impure. Hence, one would not expect to find too many piggy banks in Muslim countries and in homes of those of the Jewish and Muslim faiths. The modern piggy bank made from ceramics, plastic, beads or metal has been a popular collector's item and gift for children due to its appealing and humorous appearance. And one more thing, the phrase. "break the bank" has nothing to do with the piggy bank!
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