Very Annoyed wrote:

Smarticus obviously got a new book about common English phrases recently!

I am full of this s t

So here's another one.

How are the following 3 phrases connected :

Sold a pup

The cat's out of the bag

Pig in a poke

?

They all originate from the practice of taking a piglet to market sewn up in a sack.

You were "sold a pup" when you bought what you thought was a piglet in a sack, but got home to find a worthless puppy was in the sack instead. That expression now means you have been sold something worth less than you paid, or not fit for purpose etc.

The cat was out of the bag when you insisted that the person selling you the supposed piglet open the sack to prove it was a piglet therein. If the seller had substituted a worthles cat for a piglet, their deception was revealed when the sack was opened and a cat jumped out.

A poke is an old name for a sack, and a pig in a poke is something that is exactly what is said it was (modern phrase being "it does exactly what it says on the tin").

OK I know I'll get my anorach RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
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Jees, it's getting more like Countdown on here everyday

.....Thanks Richard, I mean Des, I mean Smartipants  L322 Big Daddy SUPERCHARGED 5.0 Autobiography - Here & Now!

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WW - Seeing how ignorance is bliss - I bet you are one of the happiest people on here  RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
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