For example, if you said that someone had been fooled by something, would they take offense and think you’re calling them a fool or foolish?
What if you say someone’s been “played for a fool”?
For example, if you said that someone had been fooled by something, would they take offense and think you’re calling them a fool or foolish?
What if you say someone’s been “played for a fool”?
Only if they do it twice.
Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.
Apparently that quote was where a scriptwriter almost screwed Bush over.
The full phrase is “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Bush realised he was about to give the media a sound bite of him saying “Shame on me”.
Given the context, it’s far more understandable why he flubbed it.
Kinda funny how its probably survived much longer because of the improvisation, but yeah, I get why you wouldn’t want to say that.