if pigs had wings, they could fly

A form of if pigs had wings — Never.

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Meanings

proverb
  1. alternativeAlternative form of if pigs had wings, they would fly.

    Don't beat yourself up with asking prices. Asking prices are fantasies. They remind us of an old saying: “if pigs had wings, they could fly.” You don’t see many flocks of pigs in the sky.

    1997, Eric Tyson, Ray Brown, “It Ain’t Over ’til the Check Clears”, in House Selling For Dummies, Foster City, Calif.: IDG Books Worldwide, →ISBN, part V (The Brass Tacks of Getting Your House Sold), page 252
    2 more examples

    But, ignoring his own insights and without citing cap-and-trade, Bloomberg endorses [Barack] Obama by saying that if the president “listens to people on both sides of the aisle and builds the trust of moderates, he can fulfill the hope he inspired four years ago.” Right, and if pigs had wings, they could fly.

    2012 November 4, Michael Goodwin, “Mike [Bloomberg]’s Nov. ‘surprise’”, in New York, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2016

    Saluting NDP [New Democratic Party] leader Tom Mulcair for “getting off the fence” and opposing Bill C-51, SA [Socialist Action] claims that “the task is for the NDP and its labour allies to win working class public opinion to oppose the terror law, and the corporate terrorists behind it” (socialistaction.ca, 4 March). Yes, if pigs had wings, they could fly. The idea that the NDP will mobilize the workers against “corporate terrorists” is just as likely.

    2015 May 1, Sparlacist Canada, “Capitalist Repression and War: Canada’s Creeping Police State”, in Michael Davisson, editor, Workers Vanguard, number 1067, New York, N.Y.: Spartacist Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, columns 2–3
Cite this entry
APA

if pigs had wings, they could fly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20pigs%20had%20wings%2C%20they%20could%20fly

MLA

“if pigs had wings, they could fly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20pigs%20had%20wings%2C%20they%20could%20fly. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “if pigs had wings, they could fly,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/if%20pigs%20had%20wings%2C%20they%20could%20fly.

Source: if pigs had wings, they could fly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.