Modul 5: Idiom 35: Pull Someone’s Leg

Pull Someone’s Leg

Hi. Let’s take a look at the Idiom, to “pull someone’s leg. What does this mean?  ’Well if somebody ‘pulls your leg’, they are pranking you, they are joking around with you. For example, imagine we are standing on a bridge and I say, “Look, look! Over there! That’s a shark!” and you say “Where, I can’t see it”, and I say “Look it’s there, how can you not see it, it’s getting closer! It’s getting closer!” And by this point, you are panicking. Well, that’s mean pulling your leg. There is no shark there, I’m just tricking you. Its for fun.

So what is the origin of this idiom?

Although Pulling Someone’s leg is an idiom about having fun, its origin is not so fun at all.

“Pulling legs” is how thieves would steal from their victims. It was around the late 19th Century to early 20th Century when this was a associated with thieves. First, the thief would pull their victim’s leg to trip them up and then when they were on the floor, the thief could then take their belongings.

Now Let’s take a look at our illustration.

Here we have a thief and a victim. Can you see how the thief is pulling on the man’s leg? He’s trying to trip him up so that he can steal the bag from his arm? Look at the thief’s mouth. What’s he doing with his tongue? He is blowing raspberries at the man. Blowing ‘raspberries’ (demonstrate) is something that we do when we are being playful or teasing someone.

Here are some examples before we go to the concept questions…

“Did you really break my computer or are you just

pulling my leg?”

“I didn’t eat your food, I was joking. I was just pulling your leg.”

“Mum, I’m not pulling your leg. I need to go to the hospital!”

“Harry is over there, I’m going to pull his leg about something. Do you want to watch?”

“Vince told me that he was firing me and I believed him! I can’t believe he pulled my leg like that!”

Great.

Let’s look at some situations to check your understanding.

1. The phone rang and Ryan went to pick it up. He saw that it was his Grandma calling so he answered the phone pretending to be the local Chinese restaurant. Was he pulling his Grandma’s leg? Yes. He pranked her.
2. Naomi acted as though her little toddler had really hurt her when he hit her with his teddy bear. Did he really hurt her, or was she just pulling his leg?  She was pulling her baby boy’s leg. He had only hit her very softly.
3. The student thought his teacher was pulling his leg when she told him that he had done very poorly on his mathematics test paper. Do you think that the teacher really was pulling his leg? No, she was completely serious as he had gotten most of the answers wrong.
4. When Sarah got home from work, David told her that he had made dinner himself. David is a terrible cook, but the dish turned out successfully and delicious. Sarah was suspicious and said, ‘I don’t believe you. I think you’ve ordered this meal.’ Was David trying to pull Sarah’s leg? No. He was honest, but Sarah thought he was pulling her leg.
5. Bobby was having dinner with his mum. She had told him to make sure he finished his vegetables. Whilst she wasn’t looking, Bobby piled his remaining vegetables under his knife and fork and smiling, he said, “finished!”. The vegetables were very clearly visible. Was Bobby pulling his mum’s leg or was he simply telling lies?  He was pulling her leg. He knew that she had seen the hidden vegetables and was teasing her by saying that he had eaten them.

Great.

Now go and practise. See you soon.