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pull the wool over your eyes

pull the wool over your eyes English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: Sep 03 2009

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

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“It seems like I’m gonna have to pull the wool over Mason’s eyes if I want any of that soda pop.”

- Jason on trying to quench his thirst.

2. Video - Watch the video before learning the definition.

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

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to trick, deceive

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

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If you trick or deceive someone, you have to make sure he or she isn’t able to see the truth.

Anytime you lie to someone to get what you want, you pull the wool over their eyes so they won’t see what you’re doing. Someone who has had the wool pulled over his or her eyes can’t see what see what’s real and is blinded by lies.

In today’s episode of EXTREME English, baby! Jason asks Mason for some of his soda and Mason says he can’t have any. So Jason ties a wool sweater around Mason’s head and takes some!

This might seem like a crude representation of the idiom, pull the wool over your eyes, and, well, it is. But it’s actually very similar to the origin of the phrase. In the 18th and 19th centuries, important men wore wigs on their heads made of wool. If you wanted to fool one of them, you could pull his wig down over his face! It wasn’t too long before pull the wool over your eyes came to have the same meaning it does today.

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

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“Don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes. I know what you’re up to.”

“He totally pulled the wool over my eyes. I trusted him and he took all my money.”

“Don’t let her pull the wool over your eyes. She doesn’t value you. She’s only using you.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

VOLTS when you pull the wool over one's eyes you lie to someone to get what you want.
by VOLTSSuper Member!
tianyq0709 it means cheat someone
by tianyq0709
getnikku to deceive someone in order to prevent them from knowing what you are really doing.
by getnikku
Gellerke bamboozle, lead by nose
by Gellerke
Sezai to deceive, to hoodwink
by Sezai
sofree hoodwink to cover one's true motives.
by sofree

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Comments

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babybonita

Peru

 

 ...hmm,so if you find out your best friend's been cheating on her boyfriend and he has no idea because she keeps on lying to him "so well" you can say . HE'S HAD THE WOOL PULLED ALL OVER HIS FACE FOR A WHILE"....

or if there's the case, you can also say "I'd had the wool pulled over my face for such a long time ,until I finally realized.. he was not worth it at all"

Wink thanx

 

05:32 PM Sep 13 2009 |

Gidrisov

Gidrisov

Russian Federation

kukuka,I think that"pull the wool over someone's eye" means in Russian "обвести вокруг пальца"

 P.s. Thanks for the lesson.

05:03 PM Sep 13 2009 |

Dararat

Dararat

Thailand

I see

01:14 AM Sep 13 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I can’t find anything similar in portuguese to compare…That trip this slang hahaha :P

11:53 PM Sep 10 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I found this slang pretty comedy! hahaha…Will be this slang is usual as it seems??? :P

11:47 PM Sep 10 2009 |

almoo

Saudi Arabia

؟؟؟؟؟؟؟

04:04 PM Sep 10 2009 |

الساهر

Yemen

السلام عليكم

 

11:05 AM Sep 10 2009 |

hrd008hrd

China

what?

09:06 AM Sep 10 2009 |

Vafa_S

Vafa_S

Azerbaijan

hm it is good to learn new slangs Smile

it enriches my vocabulary/hmmm i also want to use this slang in my example :    hmm everybody pull the woll over each oter's eyse because it is virtual lifeWink

02:24 PM Sep 09 2009 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

in russian i would say"втирать очки" ... in english i guess it 's meaning is something like to deceive a person or to delude someone

05:25 AM Sep 09 2009 |

lamiyati

Morocco

Laughingit is so funny

12:23 AM Sep 08 2009 |

yeyahui

yeyahui

China

hihihi

01:20 PM Sep 07 2009 |

yeyahui

yeyahui

China

hihihi

01:20 PM Sep 07 2009 |

chenchujia

Macao

Wow,it is so funny,today i learn the new slang again,thanks so much.

11:31 AM Sep 07 2009 |

VladimirR

Russian Federation

This video lesson is good. Thank you.

03:42 AM Sep 07 2009 |

aggie yuan

aggie yuan

China

great! I've learned a new slang now.lemme try to use it: DODO is so smart that you are't able to pull the wool over her eyes. am i right?

02:54 AM Sep 06 2009 |

Khulood

United Arab Emirates

Wow new thing to learn! Pull the wool over some one's eyes, ummm okay let me try and put it in example, don't you ever think to pull the wool over my eyes, i'm not gullible and I know what you are up to! 

09:47 AM Sep 05 2009 |

sweetpolly

sweetpolly

Taiwan

I think it's normal that everybody will pull the wool over others' eyes some times just because we really need to have sth or want sth!!!!but I mean the simple way not breaken the law or rules;)

and the original meaning of this slang is the same as we use now!!!:D interesting!!!!

06:35 AM Sep 05 2009 |

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