What does it mean when people say, "Wow, if he's that gullible, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell him." ?

Question

I heard that it is somehow a reference to the Brooklyn Bridge, but I don't understand the reference.

Answer 1

It comes from an old story about a guy who sold someone the Brooklyn Bridge.  Of course, no one person owns it so the guy who bought it just lost a lot of money for nothing because he was gullible (easy to fool, believes anything, some would say a sucker!)  People say they'd like to sell him a bridge because they'd make a lot of money for nothing if the person was actually gullible enough to believe they were buying a bridge!

Answer 2

I once looked gullible up in the dictionary because someone told me it wasn't there.  (I'd have bought the bridge.)

Answer 3

Evidently at one point in US history (probably pretty early in the 1900s), some unscrupulous people tried to scam naive visitors to New York by offering to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.

Answer 4

A con man called George Parker made a lot of money by 'selling' the brooklyn bridge to gullible people in the early 1900's. Police had to stop some of these people from putting up toll booths.

   He also did this with a lot of other landmarks.

Answer 5

it means that if he is that easy to take advantage of, then i would like to sell him the brooklyn bridge. ( meaning he is so easy , that  he would believe that he really could  buy the brooklyn bridge. and the seller could make $ off him because he is so gullible.  sometimes people say they have ocean front property in arizona to sell.

Answer 6

It's an old cliche' about people believing the unbelievable.

Answer 7

Gullible means easy to be fooled and believes everything. Also bridges aren;t owned by anyone so you would con them. That is how gullible they are.

Answer 8

Two con men, George Parker, and William McCloundy, used a scheme to convince tourists that they could purchase the Brooklyn Bridge, then stole the money.  The idea is that the tourists would have to be pretty gullible to buy a bridge from a random guy on the street!

Answer 9

bridges cost a lot of money