long pork
- noun
- Offensive
:
carne humana
- In some historical accounts, the term long pork was used to mask the reality of cannibalism.
Examples
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Some cultures have historically consumed long pork during rituals.
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Discussions about long pork appear in certain anthropological studies of Pacific Island cultures.
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The explorers were horrified to discover what the locals meant by long pork.
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The tribe referred to their meals as long pork.
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In some historical accounts, the term long pork was used to mask the reality of cannibalism.
-
The explorers were horrified to discover what the locals meant by long pork.
-
Discussions about long pork appear in certain anthropological studies of Pacific Island cultures.
Synonyms
1
9.9
Human flesh that some people eat as food
Surface Forms
Morphology
long + pork
Although a learner who knows 'long' and 'pork' can interpret the literal meaning as 'pork that is long', the euphemistic sense 'human flesh' cannot be derived from those constituents. This is a culturally specific, idiomatic euphemism for cannibalism and therefore unpredictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
One popular story says the noun long pork comes from a grim joke by early explorers and local people: they thought cooked human meat tasted like pork, so they used the words long and pork because humans are longer than pigs. That's why long pork became a quiet way to mean 'human flesh'.