Pig in a poke

The idioms pig in a poke and sell a pup (or buy a pup) refer to a confidence trick originating in the Late Middle Ages, when meat was scarce, but cats and dogs (puppies) were not.^[1][2][3] The idiom pig in a poke can also simply refer to someone buying a low-quality pig in a bag because he or she did not carefully check what was in the bag.^[4]

Etymology

The scheme entailed the sale of a suckling pig or pup in a poke (bag). The bag would actually contain a cat or dog (not particularly prized as a source of meat), which was sold to the victim in an unopened bag. The French idiom acheter (un) chat en poche (to buy a cat in a bag) refers to an actual sale of this nature, as do many European equivalents, while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick.^[5]

Relation to other idioms and expressions

The common English colloquial expressions such as turn out to be a pig in a poke or buy a pig in a poke mean that something is sold or bought without the buyer knowing its true nature or value, especially when buying without inspecting the item beforehand. The phrase can also be applied to accepting an idea or plan without a full understanding of its basis. Similar expressions exist in other European languages, most of them referring to the purchase of a cat in a bag, with some exceptions:

This trick also appears to be the origin of the expression "let the cat out of the bag",^[6] meaning to reveal that which is secret (if the would-be buyer opened the bag, the trick would be revealed).^[5] However, there is some reason to believe that the term "letting the cat out of the bag" originates in the Royal Navy of Nelson's time or earlier and refers to the act of removing the so called "Cat o' Nine Tails", a form of whip or scourge used in punishment, from a bag. This is also believed to be the origin of the term "No room to swing a cat" according to the staff of HMS Victory and refers to the low headroom on the gundecks, where punishment using the "Cat" was performed.

Trivia

In the April 1929 edition of the literary magazine London Aphrodite, a story by Rhys Davies, titled "A Pig in a Poke", was published, in which a Welsh collier takes a woman from London for his wife and regrets it. ^[7] (Boulton 1993: p.278)

The title of Georges Feydeau's 1888 play "Chat en poche" is taken from the french expression.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
• Funk, Charles Earle, A Hog on Ice: & Other Curious Expressions. HarperResource, 2002. ISBN 0-06-051329-2.
• National Lampoon's European Vacation, The television game show the Griswolds played that won them the trip.