Pig In A Poke - Wikipedia

Item purchased without inspection For other uses, see Pig in a poke (disambiguation).

A pig in a poke is a thing that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality.[1] The idiom is attested in 1555:

I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke[2]

Translation:

I will never buy the pig in the poke There's many a foul pig in a fair cloak

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,[3] hence the expression "letting the cat out of the bag",[4] meaning to reveal that which is secret.[5] 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.[5] The English idiom "sold a pup" refers to a similar con.[6] 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.[7][8]

Etymology

[edit]

A poke is a sack or bag, from French poque, which is also the etymon of "pocket", "pouch", and "poach".[9] Poke is still in regional use. Pigs were formerly brought to market for sale in a cloth bag, a poke.

Use in popular culture

[edit]

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.[10]

In the 1985 film National Lampoon's European Vacation, the Griswold family wins the vacation on a game show called "Pig in a Poke".

See also

[edit] Look up pig in a poke in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Cultural references to pigs
• Green goods scam
• Lipstick on a pig
• Impulse purchase

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]

1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 2006 s.v. 'pig' P4
2. ^ Heywood, John (1555). Two hundred Epigrammes, vpon two hundred prouerbes, with a thyrde hundred newly added. Archived from the original on 11 Mar 2021.
3. ^ Turton, William. "Origines Zoologicæ, or Zoological Recollections". Magazine of Natural History and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology and Meteorology. 7: 326.
4. ^ Let the cat out of the bag on Theidioms.com
5. ^ a b Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898.
6. ^ Symons, Mitchell (2 October 2014). There Are Tittles in This Title: The Weird World of Words. Michael O'Mara Books. pp. 34–35. ISBN 9781782432715.
7. ^ Gardiner v. Gray, 1815 : no caveat emptor principle applies where there has been no opportunity to inspect goods.
8. ^ Sale of Goods Act 1979
9. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, s.v.v.
10. ^ Boulton, James T., ed. (1993). The Letters of D.H. Lawrence. Volume VII: November 1928 – February 1930. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bibliography

[edit]

• 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.

v t e Scams and confidence tricks
Terminology	Scam Error account Shill Shyster Sucker list
Variants	Advance-fee scam Art student scam Badger game Bait-and-switch Black money scam Blessing scam Bogus escrow Boiler room Bride scam Charity fraud Clip joint Coin-matching game Coin rolling scams Drop swindle Embarrassing cheque Exit scam Extraterrestrial real estate Fiddle game Fine print Foreclosure rescue scheme Foreign exchange fraud Fortune telling fraud Gem scam Get-rich-quick scheme Green goods scam Hustling Indian coal allocation scam IRS impersonation scam Intellectual property scams Kansas City Shuffle Locksmith scam Long firm Medical quackery Mismarking Mock auction Moving scam Overpayment scam Patent safe Pig in a poke Pigeon drop Pork barrel Pump and dump Redemption/A4V schemes Reloading scam Return fraud Salting Shell game Sick baby hoax SIM swap scam Slavery reparations scam Spanish Prisoner SSA impersonation scam SSC Scam Strip search phone call scam Swampland in Florida Tarmac scam Technical support scam Telemarketing fraud Thai tailor scam Thai zig zag scam Three-card monte Trojan horse Wash trading White van speaker scam Work-at-home scheme
Internet scams andcountermeasures	Avalanche Pig butchering Carding Catfishing Click fraud Clickjacking Cramming Cryptocurrency scams Cybercrime CyberThrill DarkMarket Digital arrest Domain name scams Email authentication Email fraud Internet vigilantism Lenny anti-scam bot Lottery scam PayPai Phishing Referer spoofing Ripoff Report Rock Phish Romance scam Russian Business Network SaferNet Scam baiting 419eater.com Jim Browning Kitboga Scammer Payback Scam center Scam centers in Cambodia ShadowCrew Spoofed URL Spoofing attack Stock Generation Voice phishing Website reputation ratings
Pyramid andPonzi schemes	Aman Futures Group Bernard Cornfeld Caritas Dona Branca Earl Jones Ezubao Foundation for New Era Philanthropy Franchise fraud High-yield investment program (HYIP) Investors Overseas Service Kapa investment scam Kubus scheme Madoff investment scandal Make Money Fast Matrix scheme MMM Petters Group Worldwide Pyramid schemes in Albania Reed Slatkin Saradha Group financial scandal Secret Sister Scott W. Rothstein Stanford Financial Group Welsh Thrasher faith scam WinCapita
Lists	Con artists Confidence tricks Criminal enterprises, gangs and syndicates Impostors In the media Film and television Literature Ponzi schemes