Wild pigs swim in the sea

I observed a humorous dispute between two friends in high school. Boy C dropped the following burn on Boy N:

You’re a muskrat who swims in rivers.

Boy C

Boy C, who inspired some of our own Justin’s greatest hits, was precisely the sort of high school student who would have known that all mammals, including muskrats, could swim. While it should suffice to say that Boy N had won the exchange (I forget what it was about), the muskrat-river line would be long remembered.

I thought of those muskrats and rivers when I read a May 5, 2023 report about wild pigs swimming from Malaysia to Singapore:

Hunting and urbanization wiped wild pigs from mainland Singapore almost four decades ago. But since the 1990s, the pigs have staged a remarkable comeback by swimming across the one-kilometer Johore Strait from Peninsular Malaysia and the offshore islands of Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin. Since their resurgence, the porkers have steadily journeyed southward along the edges of regenerated forests, eating human crops and garbage while sheltering in natural vegetation.

“You’re a pig who swims in the sea.” This may be more recognizable as a burn than “muskrat who swims in rivers,” but it does not have the same homespun charm.