To be taken for a mug

Posted by Smokey Stover February 06, 2005In reply to To be taken for a mug posted by David FG on February 03, 2005

Hello,.. I appreciate your telling me the meaning and the origin of the above phrase. Thank you.

I think it means to be treated or thought of as stupid.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable suggests that it might come from the Romany for 'fool' or 'simpleton'.

DFG

Stupid--or gullible (perhaps a subcategory of stupid). Mug, in OED: "1. A stupid or incompetent person; a fool or simpleton; a gullible person, a dupe. . . . mug's game, a thankless task; a useless, foolish, or unprofitable activity." To be taken for a mug most often means to be regarded as excessively gullible. Or so it seems to me. SS