A: There is a housing fair at the exhibition center where people can buy houses overseas. Would you come along?

    B: I don’t fancy the idea of investing in overseas property through an agent. It is like buying a pig in a poke.

    Note: This idiom means “a deal that is made without first examining it.” “Don’t buy a pig in a poke” might seem odd and archaic language. It’s true that the phrase is very old, but actually it can be taken quite literally and remains good advice. The advice is “don’t buy a pig until you have seen it.” A poke is a sack or bag. A pig in a poke might turn out to be no pig at all. If a merchant tried to cheat by substituting a lower value animal, the trick could be uncovered by “letting the cat out of the bag.”