IdiomAnimals
French
FrenchAcheter chat en poche
Meaning: To buy something sight unseen, and be cheated.
Literally: To buy a cat in a bag
Example: “Acheter une voiture d'occasion sans l'essayer, c'est acheter chat en poche.” — Buying a used car without test-driving it is buying a pig in a poke.
English equivalent: To buy a pig in a poke
Equivalents in other languages
Swedish: att köpa grisen i säcken Literally: To buy the pig in the sack
German: Die Katze im Sack kaufen Literally: To buy the cat in the sack
Polish: kupować kota w worku Literally: To buy a cat in a sack
English: buy a pig in a poke
Origin: From the medieval market trick of selling a cat in a closed sack to a buyer who believed he was getting a suckling pig. English preserves both halves of the same swindle in 'a pig in a poke' and 'letting the cat out of the bag'.
More French idioms
- Les chiens aboient et la caravane passe Criticism from bystanders does not stop those who are getting on with it.
- Ne pas attacher son chien avec des saucisses To be extremely tight-fisted.
- Un temps de chien Filthy, miserable weather.
- Mettre les bouchées doubles To work twice as hard in order to catch up.
- La dive bouteille Wine, treated with mock reverence.
- Boire le calice jusqu'à la lie To endure an ordeal all the way to its most humiliating end.
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