Go the Whole Hog

First recorded in 1828, in Frederick Marryat's novel Japhet, but its actual origin has never been settled, despite several competing theories. One points to "hog" as old slang for a shilling or a dime, so "going the whole hog" meant spending your entire coin in one go rather than saving part of it. Another points to butchers, who would ask customers which cut of pork they wanted, with "the whole hog" meaning buying the entire animal rather than a single joint. A third theory tries to connect it to a William Cowper poem about the Islamic prohibition on eating pork, though the poem never actually uses the phrase itself, undermining that explanation.