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Pig in a poke facts for kids

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A pig in a poke. Whist, whist' (Sir Joseph Mawbey, 1st Bt) by Samuel William Fores
A pig in a poke. Whist, whist by Samuel William Fores, 1788

Pig in a poke is an English idiom which means a kind of deceptive trick. It is a blind bargain.

The phrase is about something which is offered for sale in a manner which hides its true value. The idiom means a purchase which turns out not to be what the seller claimed it was.

History

The term "pig in a poke" was first used in the Middle Ages. At this time, it was common to sell meat or small animals in cloth bags or sacks called a "poke".

Sometimes people simply bought the "poke" without looking inside; and sometimes people who thought they were buying pork or a small pig were surprised to find they had been sold something else.

The idiom pig in a poke is about what happens when someone does not look to see what is being bought or sold.

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