What is the Origin of the Phrase ‘Pull Strings’?

And what does it mean?

To pull strings means to use your influence or connections with powerful people to gain undue favors.

This expression comes from the puppet shows where the movements of the puppets are controlled by a person using strings. This expression is an analogy with a person pulling strings to make puppets do as he wishes.

Thus, “to pull strings” means to use your power or influence to get something done.

For example —

“I had to pull some strings to get the tickets to the game.”

It means I had to contact my powerful friends to get the tickets.

There’s a small variation of this phrase, which is negative in connotation — “Pull the strings”.

It is used to say that someone is acting as a puppet, doing things on someone else’s behalf.

For example —

“I thought it was Paul who had denied me the promotion but as it turned out, it was Josh who was pulling the strings all along”.

It means that It was Josh who didn’t want me promoted and he made sure that I didn’t get promoted. Paul was acting as a puppet for Josh.

I hope you found this story interesting. If you did, buy my full course on Udemy, or watch it for free on Skillshare by signing up here. This course covers nearly 380 idioms with their origins and backstories.

Hi, I am Gauri Shanker, a Vocab teacher and enthusiast. I teach vocabulary in a fun and engaging way. You can check out my courses here.