"And if you believe that . . .

October 26, 2015 5:09 PM

. . . I've got a bridge to sell you," says the dadjoker in your life when expressing doubt. But why exactly do we speak of selling the Brooklyn Bridge? Because, in the Ellis Island days, people did indeed sell famous landmarks to recent immigrants. NYT. One George C. Parker, between 1883 and 1928, was in the Brooklyn Bridge-vending business full time.

(A website called iboughtthebrooklynbridge.com, offering souvenir pieces of an old wooden Brooklyn Bridge walkway for charity, triggered a warning on this computer, and is therefore not included.)

posted by Countess Elena (5 comments total)

The real dadjokers these days say "Public Private Initiative".
posted by srboisvert at 6:07 PM on October 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

More recently, there was that Nigerian scammer that impersonated a central bank official and sold a local airport to a Brazilian man for $242 million.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:31 PM on October 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

This was a motif used in the short story Bernie the Faust, to excellent effect.
posted by mikurski at 8:44 PM on October 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Didn't some guy also sell the Eiffel tower at some point? On phone right now, pretty sure we've had a post about it.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:28 PM on October 26, 2015

Sold the eiffel tower (previously)
posted by sandswipe at 5:12 PM on October 27, 2015