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BrainEmail Trivia

Tuesday October 11, 2005

What does a cat have to do with “a pig in a poke”?

A poke was a small bag. (Poke has the same origin as pocket and
pouch.)

A farmer would try to hide a cat in a poke and pass it off as a young
suckling pig. The farmer would warn the buyer not to open the bag
since the pig might get away.

If the buyer insisted on seeing the pig, the farmer would be forced
to open the poke and “let the cat out of the bag”!

The expression “pig in a poke” goes back to the 14th century.

We still use this expression today for accepting something we have
not fully checked out. The full expression is “buy a pig in a poke”.

Posted by Trivia Dad at 4:08 PM - 2 Comments Add a Comment

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Comments:

Nice site, Trivia Dad! My grandfather took full advantage of "pig in a poke" back when our country was in the depression! (Depressin', ain't it?) ;-) Anyway, it was almost impossible to find a cat or a squirrel hanging around in his neighborhood back then! |< << >> >|

by Wacky Wally (PM , CC ) on Saturday October 15, 2005 @ 8:54 PM

thanks for the comments!		\|< << >> >\|
by Trivia Dad (PM , CC ) on Tuesday October 18, 2005 @ 8:09 PM

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Author: Trivia Dad
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