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tell it to the Marines
Idioms and Phrases
Go fool someone else because I won't believe that. For example, He's a millionaire? Tell it to the Marines! This term originated among British sailors, who regarded marines as naive and gullible. [c. 1800]Example Sentences
From 1926 to 1931, thanks to hits like Brown of Harvard and Tell It to the Marines, Billy Haines was ranked as one of the Top 10 box office stars in Hollywood.
It’s not surprising to learn that audiences preferred George W. Hill’s 1926 “Tell It to the Marines,” the fourth film in Warner’s current Chaney lot.
Oh! no; better tell it to the marines.
That's what it was like for me, year after year: "Tell me another one" or "Oh, sure, we believe that" or "Tell it to the Marines."
Since the Marine Corps is a conglomeration of such ruffians, it is said in America, 'Tell it to the Marines.'
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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