buy a pig in a poke
Meaning: To buy something without examining it first.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Buying a used car online without seeing it is buying a pig in a poke.”
Category: Animals
Origin: A "poke" is a small sack. The warning dates from medieval markets, where a buyer might find a cheaper cat in the bag instead of a piglet. The saying is recorded in English from the 16th century, and similar sayings exist across Europe.
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
- French: Acheter chat en poche — literally: To buy a cat in a bag
More idioms — Animals
- a Trojan horse — Something that seems harmless but hides a threat inside.
- the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on — Let critics complain; one carries on regardless.
- neither fish nor fowl — Something that fits into no clear category.
- give free rein — To give someone complete freedom to act.
- like a bat out of hell — Extremely fast.
- a snake-oil salesman — A swindler who sells fake remedies or worthless solutions.
More English idioms
- not a soul — Absolutely nobody.
- drain the cup to the dregs — To endure a hardship or humiliation to the very end.
- the icing on the cake — An extra good thing added to something already good.
- only have eyes for — To be interested in or attracted to one person only.
- lose sleep over — To worry a lot about something.
- like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic — Doing something pointless while a disaster happens.
From our tongue twisters
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…
- Pad kid poured curd pulled cod. — Alternating repetition — the consonants swap at the start of every other word, which is w…