Cartoon Thursday continues with today’s Mother Goose and Grimm:
Mother Goose wants Grimm not to reveal a secret, not to let the cat out of the bag. Grimm agrees that he won’t let the cat, Attila, out of the bag he has him in. A play on an ambiguity between literal and idiomatic (and figurative) readings.
July 18, 2013 at 9:46 am |
I have read somewhere — I know not where, and it may have been speculation or sheer invention — that the origin of “let the cat out of the bag” has to do with failing in an attempt to get someone else to “buy a pig in a poke”.
July 20, 2013 at 4:41 am |
Michael Quinion reports a version of the “pig in a poke” explanation, here, but he’s dubious about it. In his view, the explanation is still unknown. (The expression has been around since the 18th century.)
July 20, 2013 at 7:00 am
Well, I see his point about the difficulty of concealing a cat in a bag; but maybe the cat would have been drugged?