Pigs Ear

[Lallyboo]

Where does the phrase making a pigs ear out of something come from?

[Merlin]

It's "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Meaning you can only work with what you've got and shouldn't expect results beyond the potential of the raw material. Ask me if Diarmud the gardener can be transformed into an award-winning ballroom dancer and I will answer, "Well, you can't make...........".

[TomW]

to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear would be to make something good out of something bad.  To make a pig's ear is to do the opposite.

 

[Quizmonster]

As is suggested in Merlin's answer above, a pig's (sow's) ear is as different from a silk purse as it's possible to get. In other words, it is rough, hairy and ugly as opposed to smooth, fine and beautiful. Consequently, 'making a pig's ear' of whatever it is you're doing is to make it unattractive/unacceptable...ie just plain wrong.

[Clanad]

I believe the original question is "where does this phrase...?"  One theory is this is an English corruption of a French word. In old France the peasants would keep their money in a purse called a Sousier {I may have spelled this wrongly} (from the old French coin the Sou). There was no way to make a fine silk purse from a tatty, rough cloth Sousier  Another sees the origins as an Irish proverb (aren't all things Irish in origin?).  Of course, one could accomplish this if one began with a silk pig...

[juandelacruz]

This is begging the question. Where do both expressions come from?