pull the other one
Meaning: Said to someone telling an obvious lie.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “You met the Queen on the bus? Pull the other one.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Short for "pull the other one, it's got bells on," a British reply to leg-pulling, that is, joking (compare "pull someone's leg"). It is recorded from the mid-20th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: cuéntame una de vaqueros — literally: tell me one of cowboys
More idioms — Body & Senses
- the heart of the matter — The most important part of an issue.
- rub salt in the wound — To make someone's pain or humiliation worse.
- tread on someone's toes — To offend someone, especially by interfering in what they see as their business.
- get under someone's feet — To be in the way while someone is trying to work.
- keep one's feet on the ground — To stay realistic and unaffected by success.
- become second nature — To become so familiar that one does it without thinking.
More English idioms
- make a clean break — To end something completely rather than gradually.
- a bit on the side — A secret lover; an affair.
- use someone as a cat's paw — To get someone else to do one's dirty work.
- look out for number one — To put one's own interests first.
- lose one's marbles — To go crazy.
- with only the clothes on one's back — With no possessions at all.
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