Charles Earle Funk, author of “A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions, The Origin & Development of the Pungent and Colorful Phrases We All Use,” explains the title in the Foreword. His mother would say with a toss of her head, “as independent as a hog on ice” when she “…saw a pompous person strutting down the street, a girl leading the way to a restaurant table without the head waiter’s guidance, a young man with hat atilt jauntily striding along…” “She meant cockily independent, supremely confident, beholden to none.” The author recounts the many literature sources he searched for a clue about the origin and meaning of the expression, and also consulted with experts on hogs. He learned that the smooth pads of a hog’s feet don’t allow the animal to walk on ice. The hog will often have to be dragged off the ice before it attempts to move. He also found that the curling stone is called a “hog” on occasion, and speculates that might have something to do with the origin of the expression. Regardless of the origin, the meaning can be as the author’s mother intended, a description of someone or thing that is awkward or helpless, or used to describe someone who is idiotically independent. Mr. Funk describes his efforts to research the expression in several pages, and you should find a copy of his book if you have further interest in this or the hundreds of other expressions it describes. I bought a used copy from Abebooks.com.