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As a young kid working on dairy farms in New Zealand one of my tasks was to turn the tap on for the skim to flow through the hose pipe into the pigs' trough & check to see that everything was ok. The young pigs would rush in squealing trying to be in first for the feed. As they drank they pissed & shit on the ground. Some took the opportunity to mount others. If they couldn't get in for a feed they may as well have a fuck. The next best thing. Pigs do have really bad table manners. When they were big enough we sent them off to the meat works so all you good people could have bacon for breakfast & ham in your sandwiches.
Pubs closed at six o'clock in 1960 when I was 21 & old enough to drink legally. Men knocked off work at around 5 o'clock & rushed off to the pub for a few beers. There wasn't much time & there were a lot of drinkers to cater for so some wonderful person invented 'the hose.' Instead handing out bottled beer or pulling a handle the bar staff just lined up an empty glass & pulled the trigger. The beer flowed smoothly & there was a lot of intense cheerfulness until the call came, "time gentlemen please."
So the saying 'drinking piss' or 'on the piss' became common usage. When you'd go to have a piss, to urinate it pretty much looked & smelled like beer that hadn't touched the sides. I stood beside a fellow shearer one afternoon & he said, "I've been in this game 18 years & it's all gone up against the wall." He was a pisshead.
Now back the title of this piece, 'pigs' arse.' Instead of saying 'cheers' or 'goodluck' we'd get to the pub after cutting out a shed & buy a jug each, nod to indicate we're all ready to go, shout "pigs' arse!" & pour it all down in one go. Those were the days.
I remember one session like that where Jimmy Plum slid off his bar stool, slumped on the floor & fell asleep. He stayed there for a couple of hours until we were all thoroughly pissed & we carried him out & heaved him up on to the back of the truck & headed back to the farm.
I just read this aloud to my son - he grinned & said, "it's pretty full on."
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