Why do I need to know tiré par les cheveux?
Because the direct translation of the expression has nothing to do with its actual meaning.
What does it mean?
Tirer is the French verb for 'to pull' and cheveux means 'hair'.
However if someone says c'est tiré pas ls cheveux (it's pulled by the hair), they are not talking tugging someone's ponytail. Tiré par les cheveux actually means something is 'far-fetched', 'improbable', 'unnatural', 'illogical' or 'forced'.
Origins
How, when and why exactly the metaphor of hair-pulling originated, is unclear.
French online dictionary Expressio suggests that it may have something to do with the ancient method of torture that consisted of tying someone's hair to a horse's ponytail, which obviously was painful and extremely dangerous. Could the linguistic reference be to that those subject to torture end up saying whatever nonsense they think would make the pain stop? Nothing seems to prove it, Expressio concludes.
In the 17th Century tiré par les cheveux was used to say that something was 'forced'. When pulled by the hair, someone is not going to move as they naturally would. Similarly, a reasoning that is pulled by the hair is not one that draws a logical conclusion.
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