Is a hog seen as negative by Hispanos or Catholics?
Every time Camilo José Cela refers to a hog in his novel, La familia de Pascual Duarte he begs for pardon. Does anybody know why??
7 Answers
Are you kidding? Mexicans adore pigs and especially pork.
And, my, how creative they are when they cook it! Delicious - all parts, even the salivary glands which are used in Chorizo, the tasty breakfast sausage.
The author must have been using his phrase as some sort of very intriguing literary device.
Like you, I'm dying to find out what it means.
In Spain you can use hog, pig like an insult. If you say that somebody is a cerdo you means that is not very clean or that it is acting in a non-honest way.
In the anglosaxon countries there is not such connotation. I remember when Obama said one year ago something about pigs and that was understand in Spain like a lack of education, untill the media explain that there is not specific meaning with that word in the anglosphera.
Pigs are unclean in the Jewish religion, which Pascua is the Jewish feast of passover, so are there perhaps Jews in the story? However, it sounds as though the author is subtly mocking the Jewish religion as Jews, I would doubt, would be offended by the mention of pigs...rather they, if they obey the Torah's commandments, may not eat pork.
Can you please give more context, like the sentence where it is used. This will help us help you. 
I am a born Catholic and a part of the church, but from wwhat I know, if someone calls you a hog or a pig, they are mad at you or the don't like you. For example: "You pig! Get away!" Being called a pig or hog is bad in America and Mexico and elsewhere. I've never read that book, but being called that, isn't something you really want to hear.
Raised Catholic and I know of no particular dictum against the pig.They are looked on as a symbol of filth but that does not seem so particular to me.
Thanks to all 
