Meaning:
To be 'taken for a ride' is to be deliberately misled or cheated.
Alternatively, and primarily in the USA, it means to be abducted in a vehicle
and murdered.
Background:
Of course, people can be taken for a ride in a literal sense, that is, taken
on a trip in a vehicle. That's not what we are looking at here but rather the
two figurative meanings: 'being fooled or tricked' and 'being taken on a
one-way journey to one's murder'.
...
- www.phrases.org.uk
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My Longman American Idioms Dictionary showed only the first meaning and so did
Google on the front page of search results. I love mysteries and crime stories
but haven't seen the alternative meaning in the wild.
This phrase is familiar to me as it appears in my favorite script from the
movie "Chinatown" where the private eye J.J. Gittes met Noah Cross the villain:
Cross: Tell me, what does the police say?
Gittes: They are calling it an accident.
Cross: Who's the investigating officer?
Gittes: Lou Escobar. He's lieutenant.
Cross: Do you know him?
Gittes: Yes.
Cross: Where from?
Gittes: We used to work together in Chinatown.
Cross: Would you call him a capable man?
Gittes: Very.
Cross: Honest?
Gittes: As far as it goes. But he has to swim in the same water we all do.
Cross: Of course. But there is no reason to think he's bungled the case.
Gittes: No.
Cross: That's too bad.
Gittes: Too bad?
Cross: It disturbs me and makes me think you're taking my daughter for a ride.
Financially speaking, of course. What are you charging her?
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