April 10, 2008

Nabung yuk! / let's save money!

When I walked across one of the street near the Factory Outlet in Bandung, I saw a 'pedagang kaki lima' / five legs or street vendor selling various colorful clay piggy banks. You don't see this type of piggy bank anymore in Jakarta. As a child I had a piggy bank shaped as a dog with big eyes that seem to stare at me every time I pass it. I filled it with coins from time to time. My piggy bank was medium size and it seemed like forever to see them filled up. I always had the desire to take the coins for some candies but there is no way to get the stuff out except by breaking it...LOL! Now, did you ever wonder why it is called piggy bank? Read the story here or below.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.

4 comments:

Therry said...

Wow, that's a story I've never heard before. I mean I was curious to know why it was called a piggy bank but I didn't know it was all from a spelling mistake he3x.

But I like the shape of a piggy for a piggy bank. It's cute, and PINK!

You gotta love that, rite? :D

Elyani said...

@Therry: same here, I love the pink pig-shaped too. Speaking of piggy bank, isn't it odd in Indonesia where pig is an animal that is religiously considered unclean and haram (by the Muslims)..was translated as "celengan" ??? Celeng is a Javanese language for pig. Why not calling it "tikusan " since rats love to collect stuffs..hehehe!

Therry said...

Haha! That's so true! Wow, I would never have figured that out!

If celengan was indeed an idea taken from a foreign tradition then I guess our nation must be very bad in financial management before...or still, after all these years? :P

Anonymous said...

o jadi gitu critanya. :)