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This trick also appears to be the origin of the expression "[[wikt:let the cat out of the bag|let the cat out of the bag]]",<ref>[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/227250.html Let the cat out of the bag] on ''The Phrase Finder''</ref> meaning ''to reveal that which is secret'' (if the would-be buyer opened the bag, the trick would be revealed).<ref name="Brewer, 1898"/>
This trick also appears to be the origin of the expression "[[wikt:let the cat out of the bag|let the cat out of the bag]]",<ref>[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/227250.html Let the cat out of the bag] on ''The Phrase Finder''</ref> meaning ''to reveal that which is secret'' (if the would-be buyer opened the bag, the trick would be revealed).<ref name="Brewer, 1898"/>

==Alternative explanation==
{{Section OR|date=May 2011}}
There is another possible explanation of the colloquial expression of [[a pig in a poke]] in reference to something concealed of doubtful value. {{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} A [[poke]] was a leather bag usually carried by Gold Rush miners around the neck in which they secreted their panned gold to keep it safe from theft and always on their person. In speaking of a [[miner's poke]], one is referring to their stash of gold. Mining is a fundamental branch of metallurgy, the science and technology of metals, a subject presumably of intense interest to anyone in search of gold and a matter of common knowledge to be found in mining camps. In metallurgy, [[a pig]] is a crude metal casting, so called, from the resemblance of the castings at the sprew to a line of suckling piglets, as in [[pig iron]]. A miner's poke containing a pig of iron would be deceptively heavy but worthless. But there is a more likely and more satisfying twist of meaning, as the [[iron]] here in the Gold Rush context could be understood to be [[iron pyrite]], a common mineral sulfite with a golden yellow color and metallic luster also known as [[fool's gold]]. A foolish, greedy person, interestingly, [[a pig]] in common parlence, might mistake iron pyrite for gold. It was certainly a commom enough mistake to have given substance to the expression that ''all that glitters is not gold.'' Hence, to accept [[a pig in a poke]] is to be foolishly deceived about the actual value of the miner's stash in barter or exchange. It may have weight and it may glitter but it isn't actually gold and is itself worthless. By extension, to accept anything at face value is to risk receiving the proverbial ''[[pig in a poke]].''



==References==
==References==

Revision as of 03:57, 30 May 2011

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]

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]

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:

Language Phrase Translation
Bulgarian да купиш котка в торба to buy a cat in a bag
Catalan [Donar/Prendre gat per llebre] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to give/to take cat instead of hare
Croatian [kupiti mačka u vreći] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Czech [koupit zajíce v pytli] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a hare in a sack
Danish [ at købe katten i sækken] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in the sack
Dutch [een kat in de zak kopen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in the sack
Estonian [ostma põrsast kotis] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a piglet in a sack
French [acheter un chat dans un sac] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a bag
Finnish [ostaa sika säkissä] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a pig in a sack
German [die Katze im Sack kaufen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in the sack
Greek αγοράζω γουρούνι στο σακκί to buy a pig in a sack
Hebrew חתול בשק cat in a sack
Hungarian [zsákbamacska] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) cat in a sack
Icelandic [að kaupa köttinn í sekknum] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in the sack
Indonesian [kucing dalam karung] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) cat in a sack
Irish [ceannaigh muc i mala] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) buying a pig in a bag
Latvian [pirkt kaķi maisā] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Lithuanian [pirkti katę maiše] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Luxembourgish [d'Kaz am Sak kafen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in a sack
Macedonian да купиш мачка во вреќа to buy the cat in the sack
Norwegian [kjøpe katta i sekken] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in the sack
Polish [kupić kota w worku] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Portuguese [comprar gato por lebre] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat instead of a hare
Romanian [cumperi mâța în sac] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the cat in the bag
Russian купить кота в мешке to buy a cat in a sack
Spanish [dar gato por liebre] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to give a cat instead of a hare
Spanish [hay gato encerrado] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) there is a cat shut inside
Serbian купити мачку у џаку to buy a cat in a sack
Slovak [kúpiť mačku vo vreci] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Slovene [kupiti mačka v žaklju] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy a cat in a sack
Swedish [köpa grisen i säcken] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) to buy the pig in the sack

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]

References

Notes

  1. ^ pig in a poke at YourDictionary.com
  2. ^ pup at Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
  3. ^ be sold a pup at The Free Dictionary
  4. ^ pig in a poke at IdiomDictionary.com
  5. ^ a b Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898.
  6. ^ Let the cat out of the bag on The Phrase Finder

Bibliography

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