"Guinea Pig" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2021-01-01

0:00 - How to Say, “Guinea pig.”
0:21 - Examples of “Guinea pig.”
1:07 - Meaning of “Guinea pig.”
1:20 - Origin of “Guinea pig.”
3:16 - More Examples of “Guinea pig.”
4:01 - Conclusion

“Guinea pig.”

When someone is called a “guinea pig”, it means that they are the subject of, trying out, testing something new, never before seen, experimental.

“My favourite makeup brand asked me to be a guinea pig for their new line of lipsticks!” your friend who is an online makeup “influencer” tells you.

Perhaps you and your friend discover a new restaurant, “I don’t usually like being a guinea pig, but this place looks like it’ll be good!”

“I normally don’t buy new things right away; let others be the guinea pigs, first!” your friend might say when you recommend a new tech product.

As you can see, if someone is a “guinea pig”, they are being tested or experimented on, usually voluntarily.

Calling someone a “guinea pig” is an idiom that originates with scientific experimentation on the cute little rodents, who were the test subject of choice starting in the 17th century.

Though mice and rats came to replace guinea pigs as model organisms in the early 1900s, the epithet, “guinea pig”, continued to be a popular way to describe human test subjects.

Before modern science, every culture developed science in their own way, usually for the purposes of healing and medicine, which explains different science-based idioms.

In Taiwan, people say that they don’t want to be “white mice”, similar to “lab rats” in English, Spanish, Russian.

In Dutch or Bulgarian, you might be a “test rabbit” if you do untried, untested things.

Whatever type of animal is traditionally experimented on, humans are usually reluctant to be the first to try something new…

… though, it is often “early adapters”, those that like to try new things (especially tech gadgets), that provide valuable feedback before a new thing becomes common.

“You really want to be a guinea pig and have a chip implanted in your head?!” you might be asking a friend who loves trying out new technology.

Perhaps you’re telling your grandparents about a robot that can do chores around the house, “We don’t want to be guinea pigs! What if the robot goes crazy like in that movie?!”

“Thanks for being my guinea pig!” you might say to a friend who is letting you cut her hair as you learn hair styling via an online course.

So, the next time you’d like to try something new, novel, unproven, experimental, don’t forget to volunteer to be a “guinea pig”!

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