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So, we were at the grocery store the other night and guess who we saw? Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman. Really! He was wearing a green turtleneck and Birkenstocks and seemed obsessed with finding the carton of milk with the latest expiration date. Actually, that's not true. We're just pulling your leg. As we hopefully just illustrated, pulling someone's leg (or lying) is easy. Tracking down the origin of the phrase is a lot tougher. According to World Wide Words, the expression first appeared in print in W.B. Churchward's "Blackbirding" in the 1880s. "Then I shall be able to pull the leg of that chap Mike. He is always trying to do me." No doubt Mike was a prankster, but it's possible the phrase
dates back even further. Word Detective explains the expression may have something to do with public hangings. Apparently people used to pull on the legs of the condemned in order to speed up their asphyxiation. A lovely image, though Word Detective goes on to state that "to pull one's leg" more likely referred to a thief's way of disorienting a victim. The criminal would simply trip victims before robbing them. Over time, the expression's meaning evolved. Today, of course, it's just another way of saying, "Hey, I was only kidding about Gene Hackman."
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