Idioms

in #art6 years ago

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Pig in a poke. Maybe not the greatest drawing of a pig but I think you can tell it's supposed to be a pig.

Buying something without knowing or finding out it's true value. The expression came about in medieval times when meat was scarce and it was common to carry a small pig in a bag also known as a poke to market to sell. (Side note: we borrowed the word "poke" from the french word "poque" which translates as bag. Interestingly enough adding "ette" to a french word to form the diminutive of the word gives us "poquette" a small bag which we pronounce pocket.)

But back to the story. The less scrupulous of sellers would substitute a cat or a small dog for the pig giving the buyer something worth a lot less than he bargained for. And only when they opened the bag did they find a switch had happened.

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Which led to the idiom "letting the cat out of the bag"

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These are adorable. :D

I meant to stop by and leave a note... nice bit of history there... learning something new is always good. It's interesting to see two common idioms that we still use, being related as they are...

Nice drawings... I've been thinking about doing some myself... it'd be nice to express things visually on some articles... especially since we are limited to images we photograph or create ourselves... no more going to the net and stealing images... oh, well...

Thank you. You really should explore the art side of your life. There are many times I would like a picture of something but I wouldn't have a hope of finding what I want in real life to take a picture of it.

Cute drawings, and cool information about the origin of words and idioms! Great job! This is a show of support from the #steemitbloggers community! 😊

Thank you. I've been out of touch with drawing for some time but have felt the urge to get back into it. I hope to post more of my work here in Steemit.

Thanks a lot. Now I feel educated. I love the lesson on the origins of the phrases, popular American idioms. I've often wondered where these two came from -- pig in a poke, and let the cat out of the bag. Now I know.

Nice drawings too.

#steemitbloggers

Thank you. I have always been told that if you learn something during the day the day hasn't been a waste.

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