These little pigs, 1884

We Indians like to pride ourselves on our witty put-downs of our endlessly increasing states, but we’d be hard-pressed to match the cheek of the authors of this hilarious map of America. Made in 1884 by an Illinois-based company who were the ‘sole manufacturers of Hill’s hog ringers, Hill’s triangular rings, calf and cow weaners, stock markers &c.’, this is a nickname map of the US, bringing our attention to the many imaginative insults that floated around the country 130 years ago. Each of the nicknames is accompanied by a representative pig, with the company’s trademark triangles through its nose.

Thus, it’s interesting to see that while some of these nicknames have remained, quite a few have faded away. Did you know, for example, that Nebraska is called ‘Bug Eater’—not something you’d call people in that state now? However, New York and its nickname, ‘Knickerbockers’ might still have some recall, as might Texas’s culinary nickname, ‘Beef head’.

This map is not the only one of its kind. Just a few years before, in 1875, the same company put out another poster with the entire country in the shape of—you guessed it—a pig.