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Friday, November 25

Getting jiggy with Miss Piggy

jig·gy [jig-ee]
adjective, ‐gi·er, ‐gi·est. Slang.
1. nervous; active; excitedly energetic.
2. wonderful and exciting, especially because stylish. 

Momma been a fan of the Muppets since they first began so she couldn't wait to take Moi and my Big Sister to see the new Muppet movie which opened yesterday.

So who is Moi's favorite? Miss Piggy, of course.

(I shall admit to an unrequited fondness for Kermit the Frog, but I am not about to get into a tussle with Miss Piggy over him!)

Miss Piggy is convinced she is destined for stardom, and nothing will stand in her way. She is the essence of feminine charm, but can fly into a violent rage whenever she thinks she has been insulted or thwarted. Kermit is often the target of her anger or kisses.

Miss Piggy's first known appearance (who was noticeably nicer) was on a TV special Herb Alpert and the TJB, broadcast on Oct. 13, 1974.

She appeared briefly in the 1975 pilot special The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, in a sketch called "Return to Beneath the Planet of the Pigs." (An early version of Pigs in Space?) She was unnamed in that show and was a blonde, beady-eyed pig, but by the time The Muppet Show began in 1976, she was recognizably Miss Piggy with large blue eyes.

Miss Piggy soon developed into a major character. For awhile in the late '70s and early '80s she was the most popular of all the Muppets!

As for her name, in The Muppet Show episode 106, Miss Piggy is referred to by the full name "Piggy Lee." In episode 116, Miss Piggy says that Piggy is short for "Pigathius," which is "from the Greek, meaning 'river of passion.'" She later explains that her first name is actually the more feminine-sounding version of Pigathius, "Pigathia."

In a 1979 interview with the New York Times, Frank Oz outlined Miss Piggy's biography:
"She grew up in a small town in Iowa; her father died when she was young, and her mother wasn't that nice to her. She had to enter beauty contests to survive, as many single women do. She has a lot of vulnerability which she has to hide, because of her need to be a superstar."

I have to admit I like any woman who knows her own mind and goes for it.

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