Origins of the "Piggy Bank"

[Waterfoul]

Friend of mine's daughter posed the question:  why do they call it a piggy bank?

Well, because we all want to know:

http://www.ideafinder.com/features/everwonder/won-pigbank.htm

Dogs bury bones. Squirrels gather nuts to last through the winter. Camels store food and water so they can travel many days across deserts. But do pigs save anything? No! Pigs save nothing. They bury nothing. They store nothing.  

So why do we save our coins in a piggy bank? Because someone made a mistake. During The Middle Ages, in about the fifteenth century, metal was expensive and seldom used for household wares. Instead, dishes and pots were made of an economical clay called pygg. Whenever housewives could save an extra coin, they dropped it into one of their clay jars.They called this their pygg bank or their piggy bank.  

Over the next two hundred to three hundred years, people forgot that "pygg" referred to the earthenware material. In the nineteenth century when English potters received requests for piggy banks, they produced banks shaped like a pig. Of course, the pigs appealed to the customers and delighted the children.  


And now you know the REST of the story.  This is Paul Harvey, good day!

[djkimmel]

I wasn't sure I wanted to know... I haven't had a piggy bank in a long time. I have a credit union though...