Learn English – Pork and waste

idiomsmeaningphrases

Is pork and waste an expression or an idiom? From the context where I picked it up, it seems to indicate that if something is "built with pork and waste" it means that some aspects of that built thing are badly and too expensively built. Is that correct?

Best Answer

Pork is an American slang term derived from the term pork-barrel politics. It is associated with waste and possibly corruption as well. From NOAD:

pork barrel
noun informal
the use of government funds for projects designed to please voters or legislators and win votes: political pork barrel for the benefit of their respective sponsors
[ as modifier ] : wasteful, pork-barrel spending.

See the Wikipedia entry for more info on history, etc. Excerpt:

The term pork barrel politics usually refers to spending that is intended to benefit constituents of a politician in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes.

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