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Idiom: Lead you down the garden path
On a lovely sunny day, it is enjoyable to walk together with a pretty girl, lady or woman in a well-tended garden.
That is internationally known as one of the things that help romance bloom.
It is quite another thing altogether to allow someone to lead you down the garden path.
What I mean is to allow yourself to be misled or deceived.
Leading someone down the garden path does not generally involve being malicious or illegal.
On the contrary, it’s rather like the way a salesman convinces you to purchase a higher grade of vehicle than you initially intended or how, at an electronics shop, you are persuaded to buy extra insurance on your new TV.
You may experience buyer’s remorse afterward or have a bad taste in your mouth, but you, yourself, are responsible for permitting them to lead you down the garden path in the first place.
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A salesperson’s job is to sell, and it’s your job to see through their sweet talk.
You may find it interesting to learn that this is a relatively new idiom in the English language.
It first began to be used after WWI and is not extremely popular in the United States.
I grew up in Eastern Canada and heard it often used in my youth and in books that I have read.
Perhaps it pops up in one or two Agatha Christie books – I can’t say for sure.
It’s always essential to have your wits about you when talking to a salesperson so as not to let them lead you down the garden path.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 67.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.