Pig in a Poke
Whether you're a student of etymology or you don't even know what that word means, tell us how you think this animal expression originated. We'll post the most accurate as well as the most inventive. Email your answer to when_pigs@discovery.com.
A poke is a purse. Back in years past, when there was not enough money to pay for the doctor or whatever, the bill was paid for with a pig.
—devorre
There once was a pig in a sack.
His friends all called him Jack.
He really was quite shy.
He was a "porky" kind of guy.
Wearing that sack he felt better
until he recieved this letter:
Dear Jack, it exclaimed,
We have made up a game
to poke the pig in a sack
to see if he's really fat.
So Jack was poked in the sack
A pig being poked, imagine that!
Hence, Jack was a pig in a poke
(This isn't a joke!)
(At least it wasn't a cat!)
—mysticsushi
A 12th Centurry Polish Munk named Frandeleco Pocitebattan was believed to be responsible for several disipearances of local farmers pigs. The people were never certain that he had commited the crime yet adopted the phrase to refer to thievery.
—letters
Originally from Cinderella. The only way her ugly stepsister could get a date to the ball was to wear a brown paper bag (poke) over her head.
—Darrel Dillion
"He sent away for it, he's getting a pig in a polk" — Thomas Tusser (1580, Five Hundredth Good Pointes of Husbandrie.
The game was to try to sell a cat as a pig by putting the cat inside the pouch or poke and persuading the buyer not to open the polk because that pig just might get out. That is where the saying "let the cat out of the bag" comes from as well.
Lin_Duh
Back when times were leaner, having a lot of livestock was an indication of wealth, because the owners had enough food around the house. A "poke" was some kind of manger-trough thing, a common item in the everyday household "back then." A very wealthy person had so many pigs that the extras were kept on supply in the poke. Therefore, when someone is as pleased as a "pig in a poke" they are somewhat smug, or pleased with themselves, as the wealthy were back in 'poke' days.
—meyow
The expression"A pig in a poke" means that you are just as annoyed as a pig would be if it poked you. This would be extremely annoying.
—gpteeliii
Well, they used sticks to move pigs around I believe. Farmers may have "poked" the pigs to get them from one pen to another perhaps.
—stagedoorball87
A pig was viewed as a fat sloppy animal. A pocket was once referred to as a poke. I think it has something to do with a pocket full of something unwanted.
—letters
The practice of carrying preserved pork, such as salt pork or ham or bacon, in a bag attached to a saddle or carried was "pig in a poke".
—daddiodavid
Refers to the unscrupulous practice of filling a money bag (otherwise known as a "poke") with cast or "pig" iron to give the false impressinon of a large some of money. It would work on those unwary enough to accept the contents of a money bag as filled with silver or gold without checking the contents.
—kaecispop
Refers to a pig in a pen called a "poke" in England around 1500.
—ebersocats
When pigs are herded around, they are poked in order to get them where the farmer wants them to go.
—larthur
Perhaps a pig was playing hokey pokey?
—spazzydreamer14
Why of course it's a hot dog rolled up in biscuit mix. This well-loved recipe originated in medieval times — hence we're all quite familiar with "a pig in a poke."
—Mary Lu Seidel
Refers to a member of the Swine family in Jail!
—okiedude
This is probably an old American saying, from the early 1800s. It is probably a reference to the poke bonnets which were the headcoverings favored by women of the time. Since the expression now means to be in somwhat of a jam, perhaps at some point an enterprising or desperate farmer's wife hauled a piglet to market in her bonnet when she couldn't find rope to tie it up with or something.
—emily-r1
Poke is a type of leafy green that grows wild. Southerners are probably more familiar with it. You pick the leaves off of the stalk and boil it, drain, and eat with a splash of vinegar. It is like eating turnip greens. Anyway, pigs like to eat it, too. Therefore, you will find a pig in a poke.
—mgreer
Once, there was a man trying to butcher a pig. He had a long pole with a pointed end to kill it with. He was having trouble catching the pig. In his anger, the man threw the pole and the pointed end stuck the pig. He said, " Now that's a pig in a poke!"
—sterling1302
A poke is an old English word for mud wallow; therefore, a pig in a poke is someone comfortably situated.
—asmiles99
It's about a pig that is slow.
—Gonuke
Came from the practice of carrying animals to market in sacks. Sometimes the seller would not disclose the type of animal and would give a bargain price. Hence, buying a pig in a poke.
—wickytee
A poke is an ancient carryall, so ye olde farmer would carry his pig to market and sell it from his poke. The poor buyer would not realise he'd bought a pig with only its two front legs (its hind legs having already been "chopped" off) until he took it out of the poke, wherupon he realised he had been sold a two legged pig — or a pig in a poke.
—gaz
Being that one definition of a poke is a sack or bag, the poke was probably how a pig was carried home from the market.
—Mugsy516
Refers to buying something sight unseen. The poke was a sack and the "pig" could be a cat or something else. The seller would convince the buyer that the "pig" would escape so he could not open the sack.
—wstpeter
A pig stuck in the mud.
—amcanus
Could this possibly be a southern slang term for "Convenience Store". I recall driving past a gas station/mini-mart by this very name about 8 years back. I mentioned the odd name to co-worker who got the origin of the phrase from her "good ol' southern gentleman" husband.
—lcjahn
