Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a difficult or messy situation; a failure.

1970		D. Ponicsan Last Detail 22: I wish I was going to Portsmouth instead of being stuck in this pig’s ass of a place.
1983		S. Gee Never in My Lifetime in Best Radio Plays (1984) 71: We could have this whole pig’s arse tidied up in no time if the blokes upstairs’d see sense.
2001		N. Griffiths Sheepshagger 157: Yewer tryin to explain things that can’t be fuckin explained [...] an makin a pig’s arse of everything.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 356: ‘A simple case of collecting a disgruntled party [...] Even given the pig’s arse they made of the initial attempt’.

2. (Irish) a contemptible person.

1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 78: Ma hair’ll niver grow again an’ all because that pig’s arse wanted a patsy for a shortage in last week’s collection.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 234: Now let’s go see that pig’s behind we call a doctor. [Ibid.] 236: He was assured a high place in almost any government that followed. Pig’s asses [...] were not necessarily guaranteed to end as bacon.