Pull Someone's Chain——開某人玩笑

** tease someone, especially with something that isn't true; provoke someone playfully

~ 耍弄某人；開某人的玩笑；愚弄某人；戲弄某人；捉弄某人；取笑某人；（善意地）哄騙某人。

~ pull someone's leg; play a joke on someone; kid or tease someone; deceive playfully; troll or wind someone up for fun or for a reaction; make a mockery with a wink; fake someone out but doesn’t mean harm; mischievous and playful teasing

!! Imagine your well-trained tiger is on a chain. So when you pull, jerk or yank the chain to coax it to jump through a small flaming hoop, it hesitates and seems to say “you are kidding.”

想像一下，你訓練有素的老虎被拴在鍊子上。當你拉、抖或拽鍊子，想哄它跳過小火環時，它猶豫，似乎在說：“你在開玩笑吧。”

!! The slang likely originated in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in the United States in mid-20th century. It's believed to be a playful reference to a dog on a chain. “Pulling a dog’s chain” provokes playful (or agitated) behavior. It implies teasing someone into a reaction.

這句俚語可能起源於二十世紀中期美國的非裔美國方言英語。 據信是指一條拴着鍊子的狗。“拉狗鍊”指的是引發玩笑（或激動）的行為。它暗示戲弄某人以引起反應。

>> Elon Musk’s tweet about ‘buying CNN to turn it into a meme channel’ was just try-ing to pull everyone’s chain—but the media took it seriously for hours.

埃隆馬斯克關於“收購CNN將其變成迷因頻道”的推文，只是他在試圖耍弄所有人——但媒體認真對待了幾個小時。

>> When my boss said I would get every Fridays off, I knew he was just pulling my chain.

當我的老闆說我每個星期五都可以休息時，我知道他只是在跟我開玩笑。

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啟文 教授