Pull your leg
Meaning
To playfully deceive or trick someone, often for amusement rather than malicious intent.
Origin
Imagine the grimy, gas-lit streets of 18th-century London, a labyrinth where danger lurked in every shadow. Thieves, cunning and desperate, devised a cruel trick: one accomplice would extend a cane or even a rope into the path of an unsuspecting pedestrian, "pulling their leg" to trip them. As the victim stumbled and fell, disoriented and vulnerable, another pickpocket would swiftly relieve them of their valuables. This stark act of physical deception—literally pulling a leg to cause a fall and facilitate a trick—eventually shed its violent roots. It evolved from a grim criminal tactic into a playful, figurative way to describe lighthearted trickery, where words, not ropes, trip someone up for amusement.
Examples
- My brother loves to pull my leg about my terrible cooking, even though he always eats it all.
- Don't worry, she's just pulling your leg; there's no way you actually won the lottery from that old ticket.