Idiom: 'to pull one's leg'

[Haihao]

English Idioms and Expressions, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #18 "Common English Idioms", question 1

Tom told Andrea that giant turtles had escaped from the city zoo and were eating only left-handed people. It wasn't until she saw the smirk on his face that Andrea noticed he was just pulling her leg.

(a) trying to hurt her
(b) fooling her
(c) making fun of her
(d) trying to make her fall

English Idioms and Expressions, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #18 "Common English Idioms", answer 1

Tom told Andrea that giant turtles had escaped from the city zoo and were eating only left-handed people. It wasn't until she saw the smirk on his face that Andrea noticed he was just fooling her.

Correct answer: (b) fooling her

Your answer was: correct
_________________________

Is it because fooling her is stronger than making fun of her that (c) is unfit? How about the strong level of pull one's leg?

haihao

[Canadian45]

It's a matter of quality, not quantity, so "stronger" is not the issue.

"Pulling one's leg" means good-natured teasing. "Making fun of someone" is more cruel.
As a definition of "pulling one's leg", I might prefer teasing but "fooling her" is the correct answer to the question.

[Conchita]

They've even made a noun out of it (!): leg-pull, which is informal for 'hoax' really.

The next time someone tries to pull your leg, you could say, "Pull the other one, it's got bells on!" (well, I like it!).

[HuongItaly]

Dear Conchita,

What does "it's got bells on" mean ? I couldn't get it, sorry. please explain ! Thanks.

Huong.

[Foah]

Hi Houng,

albeit I´m not Conchita and unfortunately haven´t seen her for a long time :( I dare to write that the expression "....it´s got bells on" ..( it has got bells on) to me means that in Conchitas meaning the other leg is dressed in trousers charged with bells. Hence those bells would ring if you pulled the other leg. And everyone near there can notice the leg pulling.

Nice one. Thank you for pointing it out, Huong, I haven´t seen it before.

Regards

Michael

[HuongItaly]

Thank you very much Michael, you explained perfectly well, it turned out to be so simple that my question was a bit silly :)
I love this kind of ad lib !
Thanks again,

Huong.

[Foah]

Huong , you´re welcome.

As you wrote, it´s been that obvious that the truth was hardly to figure out.

A saying matching such situations sounds: "not to see the wood for the trees". :lol: Sorry, but I love sayings and idioms.

Michael

[Maate]

Haha, good one about the bells..

Oddly, "fooling someone" sounds more cruel to me than "making fun out of" but then again it probably depends heavily on the context.