Phrase Finder

Jerking or yanking someone's chain

Posted by ESC July 06, 2004In reply to Right in his wheelhouse posted by ESC on July 06, 2004

What does that and "yank your chain" mean?
Thankx,
Vidhya.

From a previous discussion:

TAKE IT INTO THE WHEELHOUSE - ".we're going to take it into this administration's supposed wheelhouse." From "Had Enough: A Handbook for Fighting Back" by James Carville with Jeff Nussbaum (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2003) Page 30.

"Right in his wheelhouse" is a common expression in U.S. baseball, though I don't know how old it is, or if it originated as a sports expression.

In baseball, it refers to the location of a pitch that makes it easy to hit for a particular batter.

Wheelhouse -- A hitter's power zone. Usually a pitch waist-high and over the heart of the plate.

Yanking or jerking someone's chaing. My opinion: I believe this phrase comes from jerking a dog's chain which is very disturbing to the dog. Yanking someone's chain is doing something to purposely upset them.

("Pulling someone's coat" is alerting him or her to a problem.)

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