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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 292. The idiom today is to pull someone's leg.

  • Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. Nowadays to pull someone's leg means to

  • fool or tease somebody. This is often done by trying to make somebody believe

  • something and overreact about something. So obviously you're telling them

  • something that's probably false or not true. And you're trying to get a reaction

  • out of them by telling them this to see like if they are shocked . Like huh really ?

  • Oh my God or something like that. And then of course at that point you could

  • probably just laugh at them. That's what they mean. Thus making them appear

  • like a fool. So this is what... the way we usually use it today. That's the most

  • common way. Okay. Let's continue. There are several theories about the origin. One is

  • that during the Victorian era. You know in London, thieves would pull at people's

  • legs and cause them to trip. While they were on the ground and disorientated

  • like not knowing where they were. They would try to rob them. Okay. This is one

  • that a lot of people say is actually the origin of this phrase. Okay. Let's look at

  • the second one here. Okay. The second possible origin is that during executions in the

  • seventeen hundreds England. People were hired to pull and weigh down ...weigh down

  • basically people that were you know, being hung. Okay. So they would die faster.

  • In a less painful way. Because if that you didn't pull them down then maybe

  • they would struggle there and it would be more painful. And I don't know. Does

  • somebody really want that job ? Does somebody really want the job holding

  • somebody's leg and trying to pull them down so that they can choke and die

  • faster ? I don't know that's not really a good job. But I'm not a hundred percent

  • sure if this was done or not really done. But they're saying that this is another

  • possible explanation to this phrase of where this

  • phrase may have come from. Okay. Let's continue.

  • Both of these are questionable because there's no documentation to back them up.

  • Although there might have been some documentation of had the people hired to

  • pull legs. But still that doesn't seem to be a direct connection to them to this

  • phrase though. It doesn't explain a connection to the modern more humorous

  • meaning because today it's a very light funny meaning. Both of these are kind of

  • serious. All right. Let's continue. There's also another theory related to a

  • Scottish phrase meaning to make a fool of somebody by cheating them. So that

  • could have possibly been a third one. All right. Anyway, let's take a look. We have

  • about three examples here. Of how we would use this phrase today. One of his

  • classmates pulled his leg by telling him that the principal wants to see you. Yeah.

  • This is often done in school a lot of times. Students often telling other

  • students something that's not correct just to get a reaction out of them. So

  • you know, a lot of times, especially in the younger grades. If you thought you

  • were being sent to the principal. You thought you must be in trouble. Like that.

  • (huh) The principal wants see me why? What, what's wrong ? Something like that. So

  • they're just doing it to get a reaction. And you know just to laugh to make a

  • fool of somebody . O number two here. You heard that they are planning to move the

  • Statue of Liberty back to France ? You must be pulling my leg. All right.

  • This is the way we'd say it. Like especially if somebody told you

  • something that almost seems way too ridiculous to be true. Maybe you might

  • say it that way. Or you know, maybe somebody is telling you something that

  • is completely ridiculous just to see if you might believe it. You know it's so

  • crazy to be true. In this case, you might... somebody might say , that can't be true.

  • You're pulling my leg. Get out of here. That's the way we

  • would use it.. All right at number three here. Also with

  • students. Some students like to pull the leg of any student that was absent the

  • day before by telling them there is a test today. Yeah so the student wasn't at

  • school the day before. So he wouldn't know if a test was announced the day

  • before. And then when they come in. It's a

  • way to scare the returning student. Huh ? What test ? I did know there was a test. oh my

  • God. There is test today ? Kind of like that.. And of course when they make that reaction.

  • All the students might laugh at them. That's a perfect example of pulling

  • someone's like. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your

  • time. Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 292. The idiom today is to pull someone's leg.

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