Pig in a poke while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick. This taught many scammed people the phrase "Caveat Emptor", or "buyer beware" as translated from Latin. In the past, it was common for small farmers to put a pig in a cloth sack to bring it to market for sale. A "poke" is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as "poque" and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding "-ette" or "-et" — hence "pocket" began life with the meaning "small bag". "Poke" is still in use in several English-speaking places, including
What the....You Mean I Can't Sing?! a trio of experimental albums, "Brer Soul", "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death" and "As Serious as a Heart-Attack", which were considered to be spoken word at the time, due to their use of sprechgesang. Modern critics have since dubbed these albums as precursors to hip hop music. Van Peebles wanted to record an album that showed that he could perform in a more traditional form, as opposed to the style he had used on his previous albums, titling it "What the...You Mean I Can't Sing?!" because of this. "What the...You Mean I Can't Sing?!" places more emphasis on