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Sorry to be even more nitpicky, but... in what sense is it not the other way around?

• Kliment 15y ago
  Originally it was just PIGS, standing for Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain. Ireland got into financial trouble later on, and was then inserted into the acronym, forming PIIGS. No idea why it got added to the middle, but Italy was definitely in there first, so by convention they get listed in that order.
  • Andrew_Quentin 15y ago
    You are incorrect. It was Portugal, Ireland, Greece and possibly Spain. Greece is deep in trouble, Ireland had to borrow from EU and UK earlier this year and its economy is in deep trouble, i.e. people emigrating in droves trouble, not sure about Portugal but I think they got some bail out money too. Italy is a very recent addition, only last month, and has not had any bail out money and hopefully will not require any because it is too big to bail out.
    • Kliment 15y ago
      The acronym was first used in 2007, as far as I can tell, and Ireland was added to it in 2008. The most recent crisis Italy is going through is indeed a recent addition, but it is by far not the first crisis, and the acronym is much older than this. Here is an example of usage in an article from 2008, before the shit Ireland was in was exposed: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/06/28/why-pigs-can-t-fly.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/06/28/why-pigs-ca...