"I've a right to think," said Alice sharply....

"Just about as much right," said the Duchess, "as pigs have to fly." Lewis Carroll

Thinking is underrated, I think. Remembering isn't much rewarded anymore, either, since we have the Internet to answer our every question. A dude named Michael Quinion has a website called "World Wide Words." Write "when pigs fly" into a Google search, and his website is a hit. So, I guess he added world wide phrases somewhere down the line.

But, no need to think about it at all.

In what might be considered a wee bit of irony, the city of my birth -- Cincinnati, Ohio -- considers itself the very seat of flying pigdom. Arrive at CVG (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport), and you, too could be greeted by their porcine monument (picture above). I guess it isn't hard to get a pig to fly when you attach a plane to it. Never thought of that....

Another Google hit -- first-page, no less -- revealed "Omniglot," a website described as "writing systems and languages of the world." Turns out that the flying pig is an "unofficial" symbol of Cincinnati, having something to do with the pig trade in the 19th century. Who knew? Never even thought about it....but, perhaps flying pig stuff was in the water there in 1956; and, you might guess the rest.

Omniglot offers similar sentiment in such languages as Tagalog and Esperanto, for those of you playing at home. The Bosnian equivalent is said to translate to "when grapes ripen on the willow." Catalan changes species entirely with "when cows fly." I dunno -- just doesn't have the same ring to it.

The Chinese are more deliberate about expressing the truly impossible -- "Unless the sun would rise from the West." No need to suspend disbelief there, since we all know THAT will never happen.

I've been told that too much thinkin' and not enough doin' is the root of all evil, at least in bizness. I've observed that too much doin' without enough thought is the root of all business failure.

The correct answer should be that both thinkin' and doin' need to be workin' together toward the goal. The doers need to know what to do before they start doin.' Then, they really need to get down to doin.' If they don't do the doin,' they shouldn't think the thinkers did the wrong thinkin.'

At least, that's what I think.

I recently lived through a cycle where thinkers were lambasted by doers, then the doers couldn't git 'er dun. It would be funny, except it dismantled a very promising business. And, about 180 people lost their jobs. All of my prognostications (and reasons for them) have proved correct. But, no consolation comes from being right when the pig lifts off and crashes midway through the flight plan.

If I had it to do over again, would I do anything different?

"Quand les poules auront des dents."

Only "when chicken have teeth!"