8 Confusing Phrases

My name is Lorenzo and I was born in Mexico City, but I've been living here in the United States for five years. While in the tenth grade I had an incident with my ESL teacher, Mrs. Del Signore.

It all began one night when I stayed up until midnight doing homework for the next day. When I finished, I put the homework paper on the dinner table and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up late and was in such a hurry to get to school on time that I forgot to take my homework.

In my ESL class, Mrs. Del Signore said, “Pass your homework to the front of your row.” Today, like every day, she used the homework to take attendance. So, after a few minutes, she asked,“Lorenzo Gonzales is not here? ” I answered, “I'm here.”

She turned and looked at me and called me to her desk to ask me about the homework. When I explained what had happened, she answered, “Quit pulling my leg. I want the truth.”

I felt my face turning red. What she said didn't make any sense. I wasn't close enough to pull her leg. Besides, she was sitting at her desk, and it would have been practically impossible to pull her leg from under the desk. The whole class looked at her because they did not understand her either. I'm sure I had a perplexed look on my face. When Mrs. Del Signore noticed it, she immediately realized the reason and apologized to me and the rest of the class. She explained what she meant by “pulling my leg”. She had thought I was kidding her about the homework, that I was just making up a story.

The next day she discussed idioms.We were eager to learn them, since we could clearly see they would come in handy sooner or later. As a result of this experience, to this day whenever I hear an idiom I do not understand, I simply go to my old high school and ask my friend Mrs. Del Signore.