proverb · Words worth keeping
Where you think there is bacon, there are not even hooks for it.
Where you think there is bacon, there are not even hooks for it.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
An expected benefit may have no real basis. The missing bacon hooks make the disappointment sharper: check what supports a promising expectation before assuming the reward is available.
Example
A community group checks whether a promised venue is actually available before printing invitations that depend on using it.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The observer imagines bacon, but the place lacks even the hooks on which it might hang. The image moves from an anticipated abundance to the absence of its supporting arrangement. In another setting, a promising opportunity may have been assumed rather than established. Ask what has actually been offered and what evidence supports it. The saying need not make every expectation foolish or every invitation deceptive. Its value is in separating a hopeful picture from the conditions that would have to exist for that picture to be realised.
When to use it
Use it when a hoped-for advantage is being treated as an established fact.
Keep in mind
An unsupported expectation can be corrected without assuming that everyone involved intended to deceive.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional (Spanish-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown