the.com/pigskin
A football made of cowhide, named by a species that never signed off on it.
means A slang term for an American football, and by extension the game itself.
from Early footballs really were sometimes cased in pigskin leather, tough and cheap enough for rough play — though manufacturers soon switched to cowhide, which grips and holds shape better. The name stuck around long after the material didn't, the way 'tin foil' survived the switch to aluminum.
- actual material
- cowhide leather, not pig at all
- origin theory
- old inflatable bladders were wrapped in pig bladder
- slang age
- football nickname since the 1890s
- pig's real job
- only lent its name, not its skin