Pig in a poke
Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} A pig in a poke is a thing that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 2006 s.v. 'pig' P4</ref> The idiom is attested in 1555: Template:Verse translation
A "poke" is a sack, so the image is of a concealed item being sold.
Starting in the 19th century, this idiom was explained as a confidence trick where a farmer would substitute a cat for a suckling pig when bringing it to market. When the buyer discovered the deception, he was said to "let the cat out of the bag", that is, to learn of something unfortunate prematurely, <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> hence the expression "letting the cat out of the bag",<ref>Let the cat out of the bag on Theidioms.com</ref> meaning to reveal that which is secret.<ref name="Brewer, 1898" /> The French idiom acheter (un) chat en poche and the Dutch een kat in de zak kopen and also the German die Katze im Sack kaufen (all: to buy a cat in a bag) refer to an actual scam of this nature, as do many other European equivalents, while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick.<ref name="Brewer, 1898">Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898.</ref> The English idiom "sold a pup" refers to a similar con.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Other variations include "buy a fish in water" (Arabic), "buy a cow on another mountain" (Chinese), "buy in a closed box" (Italian) and "buy a cat instead of a hare" (Iberian languages).
In common law, buyers have the right to inspect goods before purchase.<ref>Gardiner v. Gray, 1815 : no caveat emptor principle applies where there has been no opportunity to inspect goods.</ref><ref>Sale of Goods Act 1979</ref>
EtymologyEdit
A poke is a sack or bag, from French poque, which is also the etymon of "pocket", "pouch", and "poach".<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, s.v.v.</ref> Poke is still in regional use. Pigs were formerly brought to market for sale in a cloth bag, a poke.
Use in popular cultureEdit
In the April 1929 edition of the literary magazine The London Aphrodite, a story by Rhys Davies, titled "A Pig in a Poke", was published, in which a Welsh coal miner takes a woman from London for his wife and regrets it.<ref name="Boulton 1993">Template:Cite book</ref>
In the 1985 film National Lampoon's European Vacation, the Griswold family wins the vacation on a game show called "Pig in a Poke".
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BibliographyEdit
- E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
- Funk, Charles Earle, A Hog on Ice: & Other Curious Expressions. HarperResource, 2002. Template:ISBN.