To pull something out of the hat

Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei and I’m waiting for Rob… I have some good news for him!

Rob Oh hi Feifei. You’re looking very pleased with yourself.

Feifei
Yes, I am. You know that new singer we really really like and wanted to go and see?

Rob You mean Justin Timberriver?

Feifei Yes him. And you know that his world tour is a sell-out - there are no tickets left?

Rob Yes, sadly.

Feifei Well, look at these!

Rob Wow! Two tickets to see Justin Timberriver in London tomorrow! That’s amazing, how did you manage to pull those out of the hat?

Feifei Err Rob - I didn’t pull them out of anyone’s hat - I used my own money to buy them from a friend.

Rob No Feifei - if you ‘pull something out of a hat’ it means you produce something unexpectedly - by surprise - and solves a problem.

Feifei OK, I see! So these tickets are an unexpected surprise?

Rob
Yes - I thought we would never get any. Let’s hear some more examples while I calm down!

Examples We thought we’d never complete the project on time but somehow, Javeed managed to pull it out of the hat.

Our team has had a bad season but they still managed to pull a cup victory out of the hat by the end of it.

Feifei So, if you pull something out of a hat, you do something that is not expected and it makes a bad situation better. You can also say ‘to pull something out of thin air’. So it’s like magic?

Rob Yes. It’s just like how a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat - I don’t suppose you could do that could you?

Feifei No Rob. But maybe you could pull something out of the hat for me?

Rob Oh, what’s that?

Feifei The tickets cost £100 each - could I have the money now please?

Rob £100? Where am I going to find that?

Feifei
Look inside that silly hat you’re wearing.

Rob It’s not silly.

Both
Bye!