Famous Sayings #158 — 'Pull The Rug Out From Under …'

August 4, 2019

We have been working on this project for several months, but today, our manager pulled the rug out from under us by announcing that he would no longer secure any more funds for us.

This week’s Famous Saying is all about discomfort. It really hurts when someone pulls the rug out from under you, especially because such a situation leaves you with little recourse or time to respond adequately.

What Does It Mean to ‘Pull the Rug Out from Under’ Someone?

When you pull out the rug from under someone, you may have done one of the following:

• You may be taking away important support or assistance for that person after a time of giving them that assistance (Collins English Dictionary). This can make it difficult for that person to achieve what they wanted to achieve (“pull the rug”).
• You have deceived another person and are now letting them know about your deception. That person may have expected one outcome or (your) loyalty only to quickly find out that the outcome was never a possibility or that they never had (your) loyalty.
• Alternatively, you could just let someone know that they were under a delusion only for that realization to hit them hard.

You are blindsiding this person (Various). This will cause numerous problems for them, let them down, or embarrass them (“pull the rug”).

This phrase is metaphoric. Like the imagery of this idiom suggests, when someone has a rug pulled out from under them, they lose their stability (“How to Use Pull”). This is sudden, startling, and hurtful (The Free Dictionary). It may take the person who’s been deceived a while to gain their bearings and any control of the situation.

When Did This Phrase Originate?

At the Online Etymology Dictionary, the phrase “pull the rug out from under (someone)” was traced back to 1936, in American English. The entry I consulted also said that the phrase evolved from “cut the grass under (one’s) feet, which can be traced back to the 1580s.

How Can We Avoid Having the Rug Pulled Out from Under Us?

Well, there is little you can do about the choices other people make, but we can control how we react to certain situations and prepare ourselves for numerous possibilities. This is especially true when we are dealing with people or organizations who have proven to be untrustworthy.

For example, if someone has proven to break their promises, it makes sense for you not to trust them when they make another and their assistance in a certain situation is not guaranteed. Therefore, it would behoove you to make contingency plans and/or seek the assistance of someone who is more trustworthy.

Works Cited

Harper, Douglas. “rug | Origin and meaning of rug by Online Etymology Dictionary.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://www.etymonline.com/word/rug>.

“How to Use Pull the rug out from under Correctly.” Grammarist. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://grammarist.com/usage/pull-the-rug-out-from-under/>.

“pull the rug (out) from under somebody’s/sb’s feet | meaning of pull the rug (out) from under somebody’s/sb’s feet in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English | LDOCE.” Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/pull-the-rug-out-from-under-somebody-somebody-s-feet>.

“Pull the rug from under someone/pull the rug from under someone’s feet definition and meaning.” Collins English Dictionary. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pull-the-rug-from-under-someone-pull-the-rug-from-under-someones-feet>.

“Pull The Rug from under someone’s feet: What is the meaning of this phrase?” English for Students. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <http://www.english-for-students.com/Pull-The-Rug.html>.

“PULL THE RUG OUT (FROM UNDER SOMEONE) | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/pull-the-rug-out-from-under-someone>.

“Pull the rug from under – Idioms by The Free Dictionary.” The Free Dictionary. Farlex, Inc. Web. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pull+the+rug+from+under>. Various Authors. “Is there a single word meaning the same as ‘to pull the rug out from under one’s feet’?” English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. Thread Created 8 Mar 2013. Online Forum. Retrieved 29 July 2019. <https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/106500/is-there-a-single-word-meaning-the-same-as-to-pull-the-rug-out-from-under-ones>.

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