To be taken for a mug

Posted by Smokey Stover on February 06, 2005

In 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