Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 250. All right. The idiom today is play dumb
or play stupid. We use both of these. Okay. Well you can also use it with act.
Somebody could act dumb or act stupid too. So let's take a look at the note
here. So if someone plays or acts dumb or stupid, he or she pretends that they
don't have knowledge about something or how to do something.
Basically, it means to act ignorant. Act like you just don't know, you never
learned on purpose. Often because someone doesn't want to do something or as a way
of getting out of doing something. So you often play dumb or play stupid. All right.
So let's take a look at several examples. Here is the first example. This one we
hear probably the most. Many wives complain that their husbands will play
dumb in order to get out of doing some house chores . Like Huh ? I don't know how to
do that. What ? Rag ? What do I wipe it like this ? Well what do I do ? Something like
that and maybe the wife will just give up in frustration. Or number two here.
Don't play dumb with me. Yeah. You might say that to somebody. I know you know how
to do this. Whatever this is. You know so Don't play dumb with me. .
Don't play stupid with me. Okay or number three. If anyone else asks just pretend
that you don't know. Okay. Play stupid and you'll get by. Basically just don't admit
to anything just pretend like you don't know you know. If there's no proof or
evidence. Maybe you can get by. All right. Number four. If the investigators ask any
questions just play dumb and pretend you don't.
All right so this is the way you will hear this used and this is the way we use it all the time. Okay. Anyway,, I hope you got it. I hope it was
clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.