pull a fast one
idiom

- to trick someone

- to successfully deceive someone

Oxford Languages, Cambridge Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN 

Although the origin of the expression "pull a fast one" is not exactly known, we can take an educated guess as to where it came from.

A "fast one" has long been slang for a trick or deceit and likely stems from so-called sleight-of-hand games, such as those that use playing cards or dice, in which the trickster relies on speed to fool the customer. Pull, as used in this phrase, is simply a synonym for doing or accomplishing something. A similar phrase is "pull the wool over someone's eyes”.

The phrase gained popularity during the era of confidence men and elaborate scams in early 20th-century America, when such trickery was common enough to warrant its own colourful slang. It captures the essence of a quick, clever deception that leaves the victim realizing they've been tricked only after the fact.

Interestingly, the word "fast" in this deceptive sense has much older roots, dating back to Old English fæst meaning "firm" or "secure," which evolved to mean "closely bound" and eventually took on connotations of being "loose with morals" or "not to be trusted"—quite the semantic journey from its original meaning of being firmly fixed in place.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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THE EIFFEL SWINDLE

Victor Lustig, known as “Count” Lustig, pulled off an incredible scam by selling the Eiffel Tower—twice! Posing as a high-level French government official, he arrived in Paris in 1925 and seized on rumors that the Eiffel Tower was too costly to maintain. He invited six scrap metal dealers to a secret meeting at the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon. Introducing himself as Deputy Director of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, Lustig explained that the monument would be dismantled and sold in secret to avoid public outcry. He even gave them a guided “inspection” of the tower in a rental limousine to make everything feel official.

Among the dealers, André Poisson stood out—eager to prove himself and insecure about his status. Lustig singled him out. He later arranged a private meeting, claimed he earned too little as a “government official,” and implied Poisson would need to offer a bribe to secure the deal. Poisson, feeling he had discovered an insider opportunity, paid about 70,000 francs—half a million dollars in today’s money. Lustig handed over a bogus bill of sale and disappeared to Austria. Too embarrassed to report the scam, Poisson said nothing.

A month later, Lustig returned to Paris, assembled another group of dealers, and repeated the same scam—before the police finally discovered it. He fled to America but in 1935, a girlfriend turned him in, and he ended up in Alcatraz prison, where he died in 1947.

Lustig’s Eiffel Tower scam was so bold because he knew how to gain people’s trust and use their greed against them. His story started with that first big lie and ended with a lesson: if you’re confident enough, you can sell anything—even a giant landmark like the Eiffel Tower—and enough people might just believe you. 100 years later, current events in US politics show that is still true today.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

bamboozle, beat (the system), beguile, bilk, bleed, blind, blindside, buffalo, bunco, burn, catch, cheat, chicanery, chisel, chouse, con, cook the books, cozen, craft, crib, deceive, defraud, delude, diddle, do, do a number on, do in, doctor, dodge, double-cross, dupe, euchre, fake out, fast-talk, feint, fiddle, finesse, fix, fleece, flimflam, fool, fox, gaff, game the system, gammon, get one over, get the better of, give the slip, go behind one's back, grift, gull, have, have (someone) on, hoax, hocus-pocus, hoodwink, hornswoggle, humbug, hustle, jockey, juggle, juke, kid, lead astray, lead one down/up the garden path, lie through one's teeth, make a sucker of, misguide, misinform, mislead, mulct, nobble, outwit, play (for a fool, for a sucker), play one’s cards close, play someone false, play the angles (the game, the system), pull a con, PULL A FAST ONE, pull a trick, pull one's leg, pull something on someone (the wool over one's eyes), put one over, put one over on, rook, rope in, scam, screw over, seduce, sell a pup (a story), set up, shaft, sham, sharp practice, shortchange, shuck and jive, skin, skulduggery, snooker, snow, spoof, sting, stick, stiff, string along, suck in, sucker, swindle, take (for a ride), take in, take someone to the cleaners, thimblerig, throw dust in someone’s eyes, trick, trip up, use smoke and mirrors, wile, work the system

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“The sheer number of English synonyms for ‘PULL A FAST ONE’ is an indicator of how pervasive trickery is in human affairs.”

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

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