be taken for a ride
Meaning: To be cheated or deceived.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The "miracle" diet pills were chalk; we'd been taken for a ride.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Prohibition-era American gangsters took a victim "for a ride" — a one-way drive to be killed. The phrase soon softened into being cheated or conned, the sense that survives.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Se faire rouler dans la farine — literally: To get rolled in flour
- Polish: wziąć na bajer — literally: to take on a trick
- French: Se faire prendre pour un pigeon — literally: To be taken for a pigeon
More idioms — Daily Life
- have a short fuse — To lose one's temper easily.
- not to give a hoot — Not to care at all.
- have a blast — To have a very good time.
- set alarm bells ringing — To make someone suspect that something is wrong.
- throw the baby out with the bathwater — To discard something valuable while getting rid of what is unwanted.
- the pot calling the kettle black — Said when someone criticizes another person for a fault they have themselves.
More English idioms
- have a heart of gold — To be very kind and generous.
- be full of beans — To be lively and full of energy.
- get back on one's feet — To recover after an illness or a setback.
- keep one's cards close to one's chest — To keep one's plans or intentions secret.
- not sleep a wink — To not sleep at all.
- work oneself into a lather — To become very agitated, anxious or angry.
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