Hamm, co-star of Toy

The famed Miss Piggy, voiced by Frank Oz.

A real, live pig, which in Kansas is part of a 90 million industry.

A ham studded with cloves, roasted and glazed.

You’re such a pig.

No, really. If you were born today or roughly 12 years ago – or roughly 12 years before that, ad infinitum – you bear the sign of the boar, according to Chinese astrology.

And since the Chinese New Year starts today, you’re in the midst of an astrological birthday, of sorts.

Congratulations!

Although at first blush “pig” might sound more like an insult than a term of endearment, boars are generally honest, direct, tolerant and patient people who work modestly behind the scenes. Their loyalty tends to make them good friends, and, although a peaceful lot, they’ll fight for themselves and their chums if backed into a corner.

In honor of the Year of the Pig, we’ve assembled a primer on all things porcine – from famous pigs to piggy bank history, timeworn pig adages to facts about the pork industry.

So use this guide to bone up on your boar lore. It just might send you to – please indulge us for a moment – hog heaven.

Famous pigs

¢ Miss Piggy. This doughy diva of “Muppets” fame lives for two pursuits: celebrity status and Kermit the Frog. Her unmistakable chatter is actually voiced by a man, Frank Oz, who also voices Yoda.

¢ Porky Pig. A Warner Bros. Cartoon creation, this sweet-natured stuttering pig solved problems with reason – setting him apart from his animated colleagues, who were more prone to violence. He’s perhaps best known for his trademark line, “That’s all, folks!”

¢ Babe. Created by Dick King-Smith in his 1983 book “The Sheep Pig,” this young swine is won by a farmer and learns to herd sheep by being nice to them. The book became a 1995 film called “Babe” that garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. A sequel, “Babe: Pig in the City,” followed in 1998.

¢ Piglet. Winnie the Pooh’s friend from the books and movies is shy, small and undeniably adorable.

¢ Wilbur. In E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web,” the book’s titular spider saves this pig from being turned into bacon.

¢ Snowball and Napoleon. These were two of many pigs in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” a satirical allegory directed against Stalin’s Russia, which used pigs to show that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

¢ Piggy from “Lord of the Flies.” This hapless lad tries to maintain order when he and a group of young men get stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash in William Golding’s 1954 novel, twice adapted for film. Asthmatic, nearly blind and overweight, he dies at the hands of a rogue band of boys who crush him with a boulder.

Others: The Three Little Pigs, of fairy tale fame; and Hamm the Pig, from the “Toy Story” movies.

Piggy banks

Historians speculate that the concept of a piggy bank started in England during the Middle Ages, when metal was still expensive and seldom used. Dishes, jars and cookware were crafted from a cheap and ubiquitious orange clay called “pygg.”

Families often stored spare change in clay pygg jars, which became known as pygg banks. After several centuries, the name evolved into piggy bank, and potters began making clay banks in the shape and likeness of the animal namesake.

Early models didn’t have a hole in the bottom and had to be smashed to retrieve the money inside. Eventually, someone thought to add a plug to preserve the bank for another round of saving.

A pig says what?

Here’s a collection of cliches and adages involving swine, complete with their sometimes-quite-obvious meanings.

¢ Fat as a pig: Really fat

¢ This room is a pigsty: This room is really messy

¢ Is a pig pork?: Emphatically yes

¢ Lipstick on a pig: Making something appear better than it is

¢ Pig headed: A critical way of dubbing someone stubborn

¢ Pig out: Eat to the point of excess

¢ When pigs fly: Never

¢ To be in hog heaven: To feel happy, content

¢ Living high off the hog: Carelessly spending money on unnecessary things

Pork barrel

Kansas is the No. 9 state in hog and pig inventory, producing about 2.8 percent of the nation’s total, according to the Kansas Pork Association. Other facts courtesy of the industry group:

¢ There are 1,500 hog farms in Kansas. Of these operations, 310 produce more than 95 percent of the state’s pork.

¢ In 2006, Kansas producers sold nearly 3.2 million market hogs, feeder pigs and seedstock with a gross market value of just over $390 million. These hogs produced more than 500 million pounds of “the other white meat,” which helps feed millions of people in the U.S. and abroad through exports.

Miscellaneous

¢ Ever hear the phrase “sweating like a pig”? Well, pigs don’t sweat. They don’t even have sweat glands. That’s why they wallow in the mud – to cool down.

¢ A pig’s squeal can reach 100 decibels – about the same as a Boeing 747 jet at take-off.

¢ American Pig Brand clothing, founded in 1999, “brands the culture of excess that defines the United States.” Apparently meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the garments feature designs like the commonly seen evolutionary progression from ape to man – but then continues the line with a regression from man to pig. Other shirts show a disintegrating American flag and a fighter jet dropping hearts, not bombs.

Swine signs

A few famous people born in the Year of the Pig:

¢ Alfred Hitchcock (Aug. 13, 1899-April 29, 1980)

¢ Arnold Schwarzenegger (July 30, 1947)

¢ Carlos Santana (July 20, 1947)

¢ David Letterman (April 12, 1947)

¢ Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese military and political leader (Oct. 31, 1887-April 5, 1975)

¢ Elton John (March 25, 1947)

¢ Flavor Flav (March 16, 1959)

¢ Hillary Rodham Clinton (Oct. 26, 1947)

¢ Jack Ruby (March 25, 1911-Jan. 3, 1967)

¢ Johnny Knoxville (March 11, 1971)

¢ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (April 16, 1947)

¢ Missy Elliott (July 1, 1971)

¢ Snoop Dogg (Oct. 20, 1971)