CAVEAT EMPTOR

CAVEAT EMPTOR – BUYER BEWARE, OR NEVER BUY A PIG IN A POKE

Never buy a pig in a poke, the buyer’s beware of its day, has generated many explanations about sacks and pigs and stuff, but I prefer my mother’s take on the matter.

Many years ago women wore what were called “poke bonnets”. These bonnets were designed with a wide brim that projected out and around the wearer’s face. This allowed women to decorate the inside of the brim to frame and call attention to their lovely faces and away from other attributes that might not be so desirable. If a man were searching for a wife he might be taken in by the beautiful flowers, lace, and ribbons arrayed around a comely face and not see or think about flaws elsewhere. Or in the heat of the moment he might overlook personality or character issues.

When one falls for a (pardon the use of such an unladylike term) “pig in a poke”, he might not see clearly until he has brought the pig home and removed the bonnet, and we all know what happens when a pig, with lipstick or not, gets loose in the house.

This is not to say that women can’t be fooled, too. How many Jane Austin heroines got taken in by handsome men in “regimentals”?

The way I see it, the poke bonnet was the Madison Avenue of its time, the same false promises we are enticed with today by those who lie and connive for their own ends.

When was the last time you knew an advertisement was legit, or that a politician was telling any kind of truth? And yet we keep on buying things that don’t satisfy and believing what we really do know are lies. (Another old saying about “being led like pigs to the slaughter” comes to mind here. Sorry, that’s terrible, I know.)

There appears to be no area where politics does not rear its ugly head. Think about all the money and lies that go into a political campaign to make a candidate appear desirable, and the opposition not just wrong, but evil. Why oh why do we keep bringing the pigs home???

Please, don’t put your vote in a poke and then be surprised by the pig.

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