CASTING PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
Origin: 16th Century, British English - This expression in English over 500 years old, first appearing in the Tyndale Bible published in 1526. This is but a translation of the original which comes from the New Testament Book of Matthew. The original sense of the expression is that it’s not worth revealing biblical doctrine to those unable to understand it. However in English it soon acquired a much broader metaphoric meaning.
Usage: Informal, spoken and written British and American English.
Idiomatic Meaning: It’s not worth it to give or expose valuable things or ideas to those people who cannot or are not able to understand and/or appreciate them.
Literal Meaning: Swine, or pigs are animals with no interest in things that are valuable to humans, such as pearls. Therefore it is futile to try to throw pearls in front of pigs in order to entice or interest them.
Why is this funny? The joke here has to do with the many meanings of “cast”. As a verb it means to throw. So you can throw dice, clay, pearls, etc. In sculpture and pottery they throw plaster or clay on an object to make a copy of it. In the theater, the cast refers to all the actors who perform a play. The process of selecting these actors prior to the performance is called “casting” In the picture accompanying this idiom we see a “casting call” for dancers. They are all lined up, each wearing a number. The casting director makes the final decision as to who will perform. He first selects the woman wearing a pearl necklace. A dancing pig or swine yells to him to not forget her. He agrees to cast her next. So he has “cast pearls before swine”. We can also assume that this dancing pig probably doesn’t appreciate the beauty of the movements of the human dancers so in that respect it’s also a case of “pearls before swine.”
Sample sentence: Telling an alcoholic to stop drinking is “casting pearls before swine.”
