what does the phrase "pig in a poke" mean?
482411
[Q] “All my life I have heard the phrase a pig in a poke. Do you know where this phrase originated?”\n[A] Though the current version in full is “Don’t buy a pig in a poke”, don’t buy or accept something without first checking or assessing it, it’s first recorded in London around 1530 in a form intended to be good advice to honourable traders: “When ye proffer the pigge open the poke”, but its best known early appearance is in John Heywood’s A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the proverbes in the Englishe tongue of 1546 (a title usually and with good reason abbreviated to Proverbs), where it appears in the form “Though he love not to buy the pig in the poke”. About 1555, Heywood included it in his other famous compilation work, Epigrammes, in the almost modern form “I will never bye the pig in the poke”.\nMany Americans know a poke as a small bag or sack, which it was also in Heywood’s day (a usage that has survived in Scotland). A poke, for example, was a suitable container into which to stuff a piglet for sale in the local market.\nThe proverb encapsulates that wise advice to purchasers of goods, caveat emptor, let the buyer beware—always inspect the goods before you pay for them. Make the seller open his poke and show you the pig within.\nIncidentally, the proverb has its direct counterparts in other languages, as in the Swedish Köp inte grisen i säcken! However, in other languages it refers to cats, as in French: Acheter chat en poche (“To buy a cat in a pouch”), and German: Die Katze im Sack kaufen (“To buy a cat in a sack”). Why the expressions in these languages refer to cats and not pigs supports a link with another expression, to let the cat out of the bag.
520025
Ah, Romeo and Juliet! Basically, "biting one's thumb" was a mortal insult, kind of like flipping someone off (but worse). Sampson is biting his thumb in order to insult the Montagues who are walking past. The "which is a disgrace to them if they bear it" means "If they don't come and fight, they're chicken, and we can hold it over their heads." Of course, an utterly chaotic street brawl erupts after this.
99581
Usually spoken in harsher words, but it comes from another way of saying "do not give a poop"\nIt means "I do not care."
249499
Tongue in cheek means that when you say it, you're joking and you know you are. \n\nThis isn't an easy one to figure out by yourself.
543932
it's pig latin - icksnay (sp) - means forget about it, don't say anything about whatever it is you're talking about.
1004427
dirty peapel hom don’t swem at all dont want pig(sop).\n\nAye. Ingle swig pop the flkip bibel. Hymen swort doogle dang.
345392
Literally, "Then eat all of that sh*t!"\n\nIt's not very nice, whomever told you that. The phrase doesn't translate perfectly, but you get the meaning...
953155
It's from an old Nursery Rhyme\n\nLittle Jack Horner\nSat in a corner\nEating his Christmas pie\nHe put in his thumb\nAnd pulled out a plum\nAnd said" What a good boy am I!"\n\nNow, having said that I couldn't begin to tell you if it has any underlying meaning!\n\nHere's a link to a theory on the "back story"\nhttp://www.rooneydesign.com/JackHorner.html\n\nAnd here's yet another link:\n\nhttp://www.rhymes.org.uk/little_jack_horner.htm\n\nAnd finally dear old wikipedia has a bunch of alternative rhymes that are quite amusing:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Jack_Horner
744921
"Don't teach Granny to suck eggs."\nThe story behind this expression is that you can punch a hole in both ends of a raw egg and suck out the insides. When a child learns this, it's the kind of thing the child wants to teach to someone else, especially Granny, but the reality is that Granny already knows about it. Perhaps one measure of Granny's skill at Granniness is how much enthusiasm she can display while 'learning' about and eating raw eggs. \nThe metaphoric meaning is that Granny is already an expert as far as egg-sucking is concerned, and experts get kind of bored when someone is trying to teach them something they already know quite well. I see it as a sort of admonition to pay attention to the audience, and just because something is new or interesting to you, doesn't mean it will have any appeal or relevance to someone else.\n\nAs a parenthetic side note, the Japanese really do eat raw eggs pretty often, though without going through the trouble of punching holes in the shell and all that stuff. They just break the shell and pour it into the food or sometimes into a special bowl, where it is used sort of like a sauce or dip.
1004137
We would say "pinch, poke..you owe me a coke"\nI imagine it originated in some play ground somewhere....obviously after coke originated
893695
it means that it is perfectly cooked \n\nif you need any more help with cooking you can e-mail me at princess.brat_07@yahoo.com
941326
It means literally an "ox":  Meaning an "idiot" or "fool".  I suppose it could refer to a cuckhold, as well.  It is pronounced "whey".
910600
The phrase is "mind your p's and q's."  It means to be careful and pay attention to detail.  It comes from the old days when we used printing presses and the p's and q's looked similar and would often times get mixed up.
320982
It has many meanings. \n1.  To get a few of your friends and attack someone you don't like or are mad at and procede to beat them up.\n2.  To have sex with someone as in "jump" their bones.\n3.  To cut in front of someone in line.\n4.  To have a bunch of your fellow gang members attack a friend who wants to be a part of your gang.  To "jump" them in.  Usually it is a set number of gang members who beat up on one guy for a set amount of time.  If he or she survives the beating, they are accepted as part of the gang.
122163
"When pigs fly" is an idiomatic way of saying that something will never happen. Pigs are heavy animals, without wings, and cannot possibly fly, so "when pigs fly" is a time that will never come. The phrase is similar to others such as "when hell freezes over."\n\nThe idiom is apparently derived from a centuries-old Scottish proverb, though some other references to pigs flying or pigs with wings are more famous.
925826
Really, it means you can't leave the cake intact (and enjoy it in that way) and also eat it (and enjoy it in that way) since by eating it you are cutting it.\nThis is a perfectly fine expression.  Explain the meaning to your friend.
853633
literally it means\n\nthe female donkey wasn't surly but the hits with a stick made her become that.\n\nit means that at the beginning a person wasn't -mean, rude, taugh, etc- but the circumstances (life) have made him-her become that way.