tomar el pelo

Word by word

take · the · hair

Idiomatic sense

To pull someone's leg. To say something that is not serious, and enjoy the moment before they notice. It can stay a joke, and it can shade into stringing a person along.

It is not, on its own, a word for theft or for a formal swindle. The hair is not pulled in the physical sense.

Examples

1. No me tomes el pelo. ¿De verdad vienes?

   Don't pull my leg. Are you actually coming?

2. Nos estuvo tomando el pelo toda la tarde.

   He spent the whole afternoon winding us up.

Equivalents

Marks say how far the other phrase travels with this one. How to read them.

1. near

   English

   to pull someone's leg

   The usual English for the playful end of the range. Stringing someone along covers the less kind end, and is a different English phrase.

2. near

   French

   faire marcher quelqu'un

   To lead someone on, as a joke or a tease. Same social move.

3. near

   German

   jemanden auf den Arm nehmen

   To take someone onto one's arm, that is, to kid them. Same playful deception.

4. partial

   Japanese

   からかう

   The general verb for teasing. It does not specify a made-up story the way tomar el pelo often does.

Notes

Widespread informal Spanish. This entry does not divide it by country.

No origin for the hair is offered.

Sources

• Standard informal idiom. Wording is original.