You’re yanking my leg
Posted: June 25, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, humor language, malaphor, malaphors, mixed idioms, pulling my leg, words, yanking my chain 1 CommentThat Mistress of Malaphors, Naomi David, has struck again. Her mom asked her what a “shout out” was, and MM replied, “you’re yanking my leg” as she could not believe her mom wasn’t aware of the expression. This gem is a mash up of “yanking my chain” (giving someone a hard time) and “pulling my leg” (play a joke on or tease). Both expressions have similar meanings and have similar action verbs – yanking and pulling. Perhaps leg chains were also involved in this mental hair ball. The last time I heard this expression was in a chiropractor’s office. A big shout out to Naomi David for uttering this one and to Katie Hatfield for sending it in!
It seems like “pulling my chain” should sound just as weird, but it doesn’t… I’m baffled, and intrigued!