"Pull a fast one" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2022-11-11

0:00 - How to Say, “Pull a fast one.”
0:35 - Examples of “Pull a fast one.”
1:28 - Meaning of “Pull a fast one.”
1:42 - Origin of “Pull a fast one.”
3:10 - Similar idioms in other languages
4:01 - More Examples of “Pull a fast one.”
4:50 - Conclusion

“Pull a fast one.”

If someone says that someone “pulled a fast one” on them, it means that they were tricked, deceived, misled.

This idiom is extremely common in most dialects of English, with the variant, “put over a fast one”, more popular initially, but losing favour by the 1930s.

“Don’t try to pull a fast one on me; you can’t go outside to play until your dinner is finished,” you might be saying to your daughter that tried to trick you into thinking her supper was done.

Maybe you’re watching a news report, “Supermarkets have pulled a fast one on consumers - organic doesn’t mean that fruits and vegetables are pesticide-free!”

“Don’t let them pull a fast one on you. Chocolate spread is definitely not a healthy choice for breakfast, considering the amount of sugar.” your mom tells you after seeing what you give your kids for breakfast.

As you can see, “pulling a fast one” on someone means that you’re cheating them, leading them on, taking them in, fooling them.

The origin of the idiom, “pull a fast one”, is said by several sources to have originated with the English sport of cricket and supposedly means to bowl a fast ball.

Other theories on the origin abound, the main ones being that “pull a fast one” has to do with paper currency, card games or both, in the form of gambling.

Most sources agree, however, that the idiom, “pull a fast one” came into popular usage during the 1920s.

No one likes to have a fast one pulled on them, which is why honesty is the foundation for a stable and harmonious society.

People function better when they can rely on others to deal with them fairly. However, no matter how advanced a society is, there will always be a few tricksters, hucksters, swindlers, which is why similar idioms exist in other languages.

In German, to “go over someone’s ear” means to pull a fast one, which is a reference to the sport of fencing.

“Pulling someone over the table” is what you’d do in Bavaria and Austria - an interesting idiom that originates with the local sport of “Bavarian finger wrestling”.

In Turkish, you would say you’re “playing a game” with someone if you pulled a fast one on them.

You would “go walking on” someone if you were in France.

“Those ads promising to help you get rich quick are just trying to pull a fast one on you,” your friend might tell you after you just clicked on an ad.

Perhaps you find out that you’ve been paying a lot more for groceries because you shop at a fancy supermarket, “Wow, they’ve been pulling a fast one on me for years!”

“She was slick, she really pulled a fast one on me,” you might be telling your dad how you purchased a salt lamp with the promise of health benefits.

So, the next time someone cheats, tricks, defrauds, dupes you, just be sure to say that they “pulled a fast one” on you.

#superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs

References: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pull+a+fast+one

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/20650/what-is-the-origin-of-the-expression-pull-a-fast-one

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/to-pull-a-fast-one.78782/

https://storylearning.com/learn/german/german-tips/german-idioms

https://www.invest-in-bavaria.com/en/blog/post/bavarian-finger-wrestling-traditionally-pulled-over-the-table

https://eng.ichacha.net/english-french/pull%20a%20fast%20one.html