Post #1404937
2026-04-10 08:20 UTC
@gmh Yes: the modern near-universal misunderstanding of "let the cat out of the bag". (It referred to Royal Navy discipline during the 18th century: the cat in question was the cat o'nine tails, for punishment floggings. Not a covert feline.)
Replies (1)
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@daibhidc@mendeddrum.org 2026-04-10 08:48
@cstross @gmh That's not what Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says. According to Brewer, it's an actual cat, which is being sold unseen as a piglet. If you fall for it, you've bought a pig in a poke, and if you reveal the scam, you've... Now that I think about it, it seems an unlikely scam, though, so I dunno.