Street voices
Hugues
·
United States
"Pulling someone's leg, meaning to mess with someone, to tease them or joke with them by making them believe something that isn't true. Yo dude, remind me where you're from again? Canada. Wait, you're from Canada? Yeah dude, Toronto, born and bred. What? No, stop pulling my leg, you're not from Canada. Yeah, I'm from Texas."
What it means
To pull someone's leg means to kid someone with a straight face and make them buy something you know isn't true, usually just for the laugh. It's playful, not nasty. Basically a little verbal prank to see if they'll fall for it.
Usage examples
"Man said he was moving to Alaska to become a crab fisherman. Stop pulling my leg, dude, you get cold walking to the mailbox."
"Relax, nobody won the lottery, I'm just pulling your leg."
"I told my little brother the Wi-Fi only works if you whisper the password to the router. I was just pulling his leg."
"You're pulling my leg if you expect me to believe Dave met Beyoncé in Greggs."
"You seriously expect me to believe your cat ordered takeaway on Uber Eats? Quit pulling my leg."
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Where it comes from
This phrase is old British English and shows up clearly in the 1800s. It already meant teasing, fooling, or hoaxing someone in a playful way. People still argue about the exact image behind it, but the meaning has been steady for ages: you're winding someone up and seeing if they bite.
Other ways to say it
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