What Does “A Passel of Hogs” Mean?
“Passel” is a genuine American English dialectal variant of “parcel,” most closely associated with Southern and Appalachian speech, where it evolved into an informal, colloquial way of describing a large, loosely counted group of just about anything, “a passel of kids,” “a passel of trouble,” not exclusively hogs. Its application here as a hog-specific collective noun reflects that broader everyday usage more than any hog-specific origin.
The shift from “parcel” to “passel” is a good example of ordinary dialectal drift, sounds shifting gradually through regional speech patterns until a word takes on its own distinct spelling and slightly looser, more casual meaning than its formal ancestor. Where “parcel” reads as older and more formally documented, “passel” carries a warmer, more folksy American regional flavor, the same underlying concept filtered through a different, and very much alive, branch of English.
Example: “The farmer joked about the passel of hogs that had gotten loose again, rooting up half the garden overnight.”
Other Collective Nouns for Hogs
A group of hogs goes by more than one name. You might also hear:
Related: Collective Nouns for Mammals