久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

 
 
 

Pulling her leg?

2012-06-26 15:10

 

Pulling her leg?Reader question:

Please explain “pulling her leg”, as in this multiple-choice question below. The correct answer is (b). Why not (c)?

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

My comments:

Answer (c) is not the perfect answer here – because of context. If the question is simply “what does the idiom ‘pulling her leg’ mean?” then you could say (c) is also, more or less, a correct answer.

To pull one’s leg, you see, is to play a practical joke on someone. If a classmate, say, moves up the aisle and begins to walk by you towards the blackboard as the teacher’s bidding, and you suddenly stick out a foot to trip him or her, you are literally pulling their leg – tripping them so that they may fall and make a fool of themselves in front of class.

Or making a fool of yourself if they injured themselves because of fall, in which case the teacher will not let you off easily for making a scene in class (and hurting a fellow student in the process).

Anyways, figuratively speaking, to pull someone’s leg is to play such a joke on them, tell them something that is not true in order to deceive them and make people laugh. Usually the joke is light-hearted, as is the case in the top example. Tom told Andrea an apocryphal tale (a story that is not true) to fool her. If Andrea were gullible enough to believe him, Tom would then reveal that he made it all up just to deceive her and both of them can then share a hearty laugh about it together. That’s all, you see. All good fun. Nothing sinister.

Answer (c) is not the perfect answer in this situation because apparently Tom did not intend to “make fun of” Andrea in any insensible manner. To “make fun of” her, you see, suggests that Top is a bit sinister in purpose, and clearly that is not the case.

Anyways, the correct answer is (b). Tom, the leg-puller, merely intends to tell her a story that is not true, as a joke.

Tom, the leg-puller?

Yeah, leg-puller is the word for someone who pulls legs, a joker. Comedians, for example, are professional leg-pullers. They tell funny stories, play pranks on people to make you laugh and they do it for a living.

Alright. Instead of the usual media examples to enhance your memory of the phrase “pulling one’s leg”, today, I’m going to paste here a skit from Rowan Atkinson, the renowned leg-puller from Britain. Atkinson is these days better known, to the young generation at least, for his movie roles such as Johnny English (as well as Mr. Bean on television), but I think some of his earlier jokes were excellent.

Anyways, here’s an Atkinson skit containing the phrase “pulling your leg”, titled Fatal Beatings, from way back in 1992 – incidentally, this is where and when I first learned the phrase “pulling your leg” – a conversation between a headmaster (played by Atkinson) and Mr. Perkins, father of a student named Tommy:

HEADMASTER: Well now Mr. Perkins, it was good of you to come in. I realize that you are a busy man but I don’t think this matter could be discussed over the electric telephone.

PERKINS: No, no absolutely headmaster. I mean, if Tommy is in some sort of trouble then I want to nip it in the bud.

HEADMASTER: Well, quite frankly, Tommy is in trouble. Recently his behavior has left a great deal to be desired.

PERKINS: Oh dear.

HEADMASTER: He seems to take no interest in school life WHAT-so-ever. He refuses to muck in on the sports field. And it’s been weeks since any master has received any written work from him.

PERKINS: Dear me.

HEAD: Quite frankly Mr. Perkins, if he wasn’t dead I’d have him expelled.

PERKINS: I beg your pardon?

HEAD: Yes! Expelled! If I wasn’t making allowances for the fact that your son is dead, he’s be out on his ear.

PERKINS: He’s dead?

HEAD: Yes... he’s lying up in the sick bay now. Stiff as a board and bright green. And it’s very typical of his current attitude.

PERKINS: But...

HEADMASTER: You see, the boy has no sense of moderation. One moment he’s flying around like a paper kite and the next moment he’s completely immovable. And beginning to smell.

PERKINS: Well, how did he die?!?!

HEADMASTER: Is that important?

PERKINS: Yes, I think so!

HEADMASTER: Well, it’s all got to do with the library you see. We’ve had a lot of trouble recently with boys taking out library books without library cards. Your son was caught and I administered a beating, during which he died. But you’ll be glad to know the ring leader was caught, so I don’t think we’ll be having any more trouble with library discipline. You see, the library card system...

PERKINS: Wait... I’m sorry.... You BEAT my son to death?

HEADMASTER: Yes, Yes. So it would seem. Please, I’m not used to being interrupted. You see, the library card system was introduced....

PERKINS: Well, exactly what happened?

HEADMASTER: Well, apparently the boys were just slipping into the library and TAKING the books.

PERKINS: No, during the beating!

HEADMASTER: Oh, that. Well, one moment he was bending over; the next he was lying down...

PERKINS: DEAD?!

HEADMASTER: Ummm... deadish. Mr. Perkins, I find this rather morbid fascination with your son’s death quite disturbing. What I’m talking about is his attitude, and quite frankly I can see where he gets it from.

PERKINS: Well, did you have to beat him to death?!?!

HEADMASTER: Well it was perfectly obvious to me the first day here, I fear. I wondered then as I wonder now if he hadn’t turned out a very different boy indeed if you had administered a few fatal beatings early on.

PERKINS: Are you MAD?!?!

HEADMASTER: I’m furious! In order to accommodate the funeral, I’ve had to cancel afternoon school on Wednesday!

PERKINS: This is preposterous!

HEADMASTER: Yes it is. Or at least it would be... if it were true.

PERKINS: WHAT?!?!

HEADMASTER: I’ve been joking, Mr. Perkins. Pardon me, it’s my strange academic sense of humor. I’ve been pulling your leg.

PERKINS: Oh….

本文僅代表作者本人觀點,與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題,尊重他人,禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

我要看更多專欄文章

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

相關(guān)閱讀:

Ahead of the curve?

Technically speaking?

Manufacturing hits brick wall

Do you second-guess?

(作者張欣 中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 編輯:Julie)

上一篇 : A no-brainer?
下一篇 : Damon and Pithiest

 
中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津版權(quán)說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創(chuàng)作品,除與中國日報網(wǎng)簽署英語點津內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議的網(wǎng)站外,其他任何網(wǎng)站或單位未經(jīng)允許不得非法盜鏈、轉(zhuǎn)載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883561聯(lián)系;凡本網(wǎng)注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉(zhuǎn)載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉(zhuǎn)載,請與稿件來源方聯(lián)系,如產(chǎn)生任何問題與本網(wǎng)無關(guān);本網(wǎng)所發(fā)布的歌曲、電影片段,版權(quán)歸原作者所有,僅供學(xué)習(xí)與研究,如果侵權(quán),請?zhí)峁┌鏅?quán)證明,以便盡快刪除。

中國日報網(wǎng)雙語新聞

掃描左側(cè)二維碼

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我們這兒都有!

中國日報雙語手機報

點擊左側(cè)圖標(biāo)查看訂閱方式

中國首份雙語手機報
學(xué)英語看資訊一個都不能少!

關(guān)注和訂閱

人氣排行
熱搜詞
 
 
精華欄目
 

閱讀

詞匯

視聽

翻譯

口語

合作

 

關(guān)于我們 | 聯(lián)系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版權(quán)聲明:本網(wǎng)站所刊登的中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津內(nèi)容,版權(quán)屬中國日報網(wǎng)所有,未經(jīng)協(xié)議授權(quán),禁止下載使用。 歡迎愿意與本網(wǎng)站合作的單位或個人與我們聯(lián)系。

電話:8610-84883645

傳真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn

主站蜘蛛池模板: 一级女性全黄久久生活片免费 | 欧美成人69 | 亚洲精品视频在线观看免费 | 精品日韩一区二区三区视频 | 可以看的黄网 | 亚洲成a人片在线观看中文 亚洲成a人片在线观看中文!!! | 国产在线精品福利91香蕉 | 国产成人精品一区二区视频 | 成人午夜大片免费7777 | 成熟性xxxxx| 欧美一区二区三区免费看 | 欧美色成人综合 | 国产大陆亚洲精品国产 | 午夜欧美成人 | 美国全免费特一级毛片 | 午夜影院啪啪 | 2020久久国产最新免费观看 | 成人毛片免费播放 | 一级毛片在线不卡直接观看 | 美女黄色影院 | 亚洲国产一区二区三区a毛片 | 香港三级日本三级人妇三级四 | a毛片在线 | 欧美日韩亚洲第一页 | 三级视频网站在线观看 | 国产午夜毛片v一区二区三区 | 99色播 | 青青草国产免费一区二区 | 欧美成人免费一级人片 | 性欧美欧美巨大69 | 亚洲国产欧美在线人成aaa | 亚洲天堂男人 | 一级毛片免费观看久 | 欧美一级特黄特黄做受 | 全部在线播放免费毛片 | 欧美成人看片黄a免费看 | 欧美成人精品福利在线视频 | 国产cao | 欧美日韩精品一区二区三区 | 久久九九久精品国产 | 亚洲另类在线视频 |