pull someone's leg

English

Etymology

The phrase from Scotland originally meant to make a fool of someone, often by cheating him. One theory is that it is derived from tripping someone by yanking or pulling his leg in order to make him stumble and look foolish.

Pronunciation

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Verb

pull someone's leg (third-person singular simple present pulls someone's leg, present participle pulling someone's leg, simple past and past participle pulled someone's leg)

1. (idiomatic) To tease someone; to lead someone on; to goad someone into overreacting. It usually implies teasing or goading by jokingly lying.
   • 1934, Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance, Bantam, published 1992, →ISBN, page 111:

     I hadn't pulled Mrs. Barstow's leg for any of that stuff, she had just handed it to me on a platter, and that wasn't my fault.

   • 1979, Life of Brian‎^[1], spoken by Mr. Cheeky (Eric Idle):

     No, I'm just pulling your leg, it's crucifixion really.

2. (idiomatic, obsolete) To extract money from someone (by taking out a loan or by swindling). [late 19th c.]
   • 1886, Mark Well, “An Old-Time Tip”, in Wallace's Monthly‎^[2], volume 12:

     I'm very glad to hear of his good fortune; but it's a deuced strange thing, for I saw him at the club last night and he never said a word of it. I'll pull his leg when I see him.

   • 1893, John Kendrick Bangs, Coffee and Repartee‎^[3]:

     The verb 'to-pull-his-leg' means to extract from his pocket all the lucre it will yield.

   • 1895, Reports of Decisions in Probate‎^[4]:

     "I would 'pull his leg,' but Laura will not work with me." The expression "pulling his leg," Miss Sullivan explained as meaning to coax or wheedle his wealth out of him.

Derived terms

• pull the other one, it's got bells on

Translations

to tease someone

• Catalan: prendre el pèl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 開玩笑／开玩笑 (zh) (kāiwánxiào) (usage: 开...的玩笑), 嘲弄 (zh) (cháonòng)

• Esperanto: blagi
• Finnish: vedättää (fi)
• French: mener en bateau (fr), faire marcher (fr)
• German: jemanden durch den Kakao ziehen (de), jemanden in die Irre führen, verarschen (de), veralbern (de)
• Hungarian: ugrat (hu)
• Italian: prendere in giro
• Polish: nabrać kogoś, wkręcać (pl) impf, wkręcić (pl) pf
• Russian: дразни́ть (ru) impf (draznítʹ), насмеха́ться (ru) impf (nasmexátʹsja) (colloquial, над (nad) + instrumental case), подка́лывать (ru) impf (podkályvatʹ) (colloquial), прика́лываться (ru) impf (prikályvatʹsja) (colloquial, над (nad) + instrumental case)
• Scottish Gaelic: tarraing à cudeigin
• Spanish: picar (a alguien), cizañear (es), meter cizaña, sacar pica (es), provocar (es), tomar el pelo (es), quedarse con alguien, buscarle a alguien las cosquillas
• Turkish: dalga deçmek
• Vietnamese: nói sạo

See also

• yank someone's chain
• have a lend of
• make a fool of
• wind up
• kid