pull your leg
Who taught: Jean
A week ago, Jean pinged me, saying “Do you know ‘pulling your leg’?” As soon as I heard the expression, my first interpretation was “I am out of this!” My example would be like “I do not think this is a good idea. I am pulling my leg here.” The reason why I thought that way is because of the expression of “put my foot in something!” It means you are really good at something. So, for example, since I have gone through two years and two months of the Korean Army time, I became to be pretty good at cooking Korean noodle. My friends who eat Korean noodle I cooked would say to me, “Terry! man, this noodle is awesome. You really put your foot in it!” Don’t you think so, my friends?
But, as it usually is the case, I was wrong. Jean gave me the context she was in when she used the “pull your leg” expression. She said, “I said to Ari that when she’s gone to have her baby, I was going to keep the window open all the time!” And, Ari told Jean, “I am sorry! I just do not like too bright.” And Jean told Ari, “It’s all right! I am just pulling your leg!” It turns out the expression is the same one to “I am joking or kidding!” So, I asked Jean about the reason why that expression is equivalent to “I am kidding!” She told me that it is because when you pull other person’s leg, it is totally intentional and when you joke, it is something you intend to say in that way.
Again, interesting mixture of words to make a total different meaning. What if I say, “I am just pushing your leg!” Would that be the same meaning?
That’s not quite what ‘put your foot in it’ means 🙂
Really?
Andrew, Urban Dictionary sucks! I need a different one.
Hi! You don’t know me, but a friend of a friend directed me to your webpage, and I’m enjoying seeing what you learn.
“Put your foot in it” is not a familiar phrase to me, but something similar “stepped in it” or “stepping in it” is. However it has sort of the opposite meaning! If you do something really bad or embarassing, you might say that you “stepped in it”. No one ever says what “it” is, but I think most people think of something like dog doo-doo.
An example might be “Oops – I forgot that Susie’s birthday party was going to be a surprise, and asked her what I should bring. I really stepped in it this time.”
Hi Ginger, Nice to meet you! Thank you for your phrase! Your example really makes me understand the meaning of “step in it!” To be honest, everyday is very adventurous for me but I do enjoy learning English. Please feel free to add comments!
I gotta say, this is the first phrase I’ve seen mentioned on this blog that I’ve never heard of. I wonder if it’s a regional thing? Or perhaps even just amongst friends?
We have a saying that I think is fairly limited in scope that is similar. When someone really screws up, we say, “Man, Frank really shit the bed, eh?!”
So, what is the expression that describes the worst situation? Is it “shit the bed” or “step in it”? To me, shit the bed sounds very strong.
And,, are you sure? You have never? Never heard somebody saying like “Are you pulling my leg?” Does it ring the bell with you?
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I meant “step in it”. I’ve never heard someone say it before. Actually, I hadn’t heard “put your foot in it” before either, but that one is apparently legitimate.
Ooh, another bed phrase: “You’ve made your bed, now you have to lie in it”. This means you got yourself into a bad situation and now you have to deal with the consequences.
bed phrase:
got up on the wrong side of the bed.
A similar expression might be, “Who pissed in your cornflakes?”
Today, Phil used another expression which has the same meaning with this. “Pull your chain!”