Street voices
Hugues Renaud
·
United States
"Buying, another way to say to believe something. So imagine you're walking down the street with your buddy and you see some crazy guy just yelling at people saying, birds aren't real, they're just government drones trying to spy on you. So you look over to your friend and you say, does anyone actually buy this stuff? Like, do you think anyone buys this stuff?"
What it means
In US slang, “buying” means believing something, accepting it as true, or falling for a story. You’ll often hear it as “Are you buying this?” when someone sounds skeptical.
Usage examples
"He swore he got stuck in traffic for two hours, but nobody’s buying it because his car hasn’t moved all morning."
"He said he was late because a goose chased him through the car park, and honestly none of us were buying it for a second."
"She kept saying her phone died, but I’m not buying it because she was posting on Instagram five minutes ago."
"You really buying that excuse? Man showed up at noon with coffee in hand and wants us to believe he got lost."
"She said her ex just randomly texted to apologize after three years, and yeah, I’m not buying that miracle package."
Where it comes from
This use of buy has been in American English since at least the early 1900s, coming from the older idea of buying a story, an excuse, or a line. The logic’s simple and street-clean. If you buy it, you accept it. If you don’t, their whole little tale bounces right off you.
