I once had a student who was a Mexican priest, in Canada for a sabbatical year of study. One day I was talking to him about his work. He told me that he was a priest in a mountain village, and that his parishioners were very poor. Part of his job involved visiting them in their homes, where he could see how little they had.
They would always offer me food, and I would always have to eat it, even though I often saw hungry children peering in through the door.
Was I eating the children's meal? I often wondered. Was this the only food they had?
But you had to eat it... I said.
Yes, they would have been very offended if I hadn't accepted their hospitality. And the motto of our religious order is: "Be as gentle as a dove and eat like a pig."
Eat like a pig?! I replied, somewhat astounded.
Yes, he nodded. Eat like a pig.
In English to eat like a pig means to eat a lot - as much as you can, I told him.
Oh no! he replied. In my language "to eat like a pig" means to eat whatever is put before you, without asking what it is. There were times I didn't know what I was eating. If I had known, I might not have wanted to eat it. But I followed our motto to "eat like a pig" and I didn't ask any questions. That was the polite way.
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