Meaning & Analysis
I will not buy a piglet that is still in a sack (poke), meaning I will not purchase or accept something without first inspecting it to see what it truly is.
Insights
Caution and Prudence
The proverb warns against taking risks by accepting things sight unseen or making decisions without sufficient information, urging careful scrutiny before committing.
Avoiding Deception
It references the risk of being tricked or swindled—since the 'pig' in the poke might not be a pig at all, but something worthless—thus serving as a caution against gullibility.
Historical Market Practice
In medieval markets, unscrupulous sellers might hide an inferior or unwanted animal (like a cat) in a sack and sell it as a pig. The proverb emerges from the practical need for vigilance in everyday transactions.
International Parallels
Variants such as 'to buy a cat in a poke' (French, German) and related English expressions ('unsight unseen') show that the warning against unexamined bargains is a near-universal principle across cultures.
Enduring Relevance
Though rooted in rural commerce, the saying persists as a metaphor in modern life—applied to contracts, deals, and relationships—reflecting perennial anxieties about trust and transparency.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
Uses the vivid scenario of buying livestock in a sack to stand for any kind of risk or transaction involving uncertainty.
Colloquialism
Rustic, idiomatic phrasing gives the proverb immediacy and popular resonance.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'p' sound in 'pig' and 'poke' lends rhythmic appeal and aids memorability.
Transcription
Quotations
Though ye loue not to bye the pyg in the poke Yet snatchye ye at the poke.
I will neuer bye the pyg in the poke.
Wilt thou haue me buy the pig in the poake.
In dooing of either, let wit beare a stroke, for buieng or selling of pig in a poke.
To buy at all aduenture, or to buy a pigge in a poke.
He is a foole, they say, that will buy the pig in the poke.
No man will buy a pig in a poke.
To buy a pigg in a poke.
This is to sell a pigg in a poke.
*Gall. To buy a cat in a poke.
To buy a Pig in a Poke, or unsight or unseen.
Cross References
- See St., no. 1093.
- C170 To buy a cat in a poke
- U17 Un-sight unseen
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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