In fact, he sold the Brooklyn Bridge at least twice a week, one time for as much as $50,000. Sometimes the police would have to stop the “new owners” from setting up toll booths in the middle of the bridge.
Eventually, Parker got caught and thrown into prison, where he received a life sentence and died.
Not a very good ending, but the fact that he and others actually tried to sell the Brooklyn Bridge, a public property, gave rise to many expressions involving “the bridge”. Someone who tries to “sell you the bridge”, for instance, is a persuasive con man. He is a con man, that is, if he is sinister in motivation. If not particularly sinister, then he’s merely persuasive. Like the man who can “sell the refrigerator to Eskimos”, he who can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge is, metaphorically speaking, extremely good at sales.
On the other hand, if you “buy that bridge”, you’re gullible, easy to believe, unsuspecting, naive.
And perhaps a bit greedy, too, for, let’s face it, if you’re not greedy, nobody can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
Or a piece of the moon, for that matter.
Or anything else that sounds too good to be true.
Anyways, just remember, the common expression “selling someone the bridge” suggests that some dishonest man is probably trying to cheat you on a business deal. So, beware.
Finally, read this piece from The New York Times (For You, Half Price, By Gabriel Cohen, November 27, 2005):
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