Hanging Bacon

In the first installment of Educating Ricky, Karl enlightened Ricky and Steve by explaining the origin of the phrase "chewing the fat." Karl claimed that years ago, when people didn't have much money, bacon was a status symbol which was hung in the kitchens of those who were well-to-do. While conversing in the kitchen, those present would chew on a piece of rind: chewing the fat. Ricky found this particular story more plausible than Hairy Chinese Kid or Alien Gives Man a Beard, but he was perplexed that Karl didn't distinguish between the subject matter of the three segments.

There appears to be no definitive origin for the expression.<ref>http://everything2.com/title/Chew+the+fat</ref> There is some support for Karl's theory, although the first recorded use of the expression indicates it may be relatively recent and not a product of 'olden times.'

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