What’s the difference between “pelo” and “pierna”?

Question

In Spanish, what’s the difference between “pelo” and “pierna”. Both mean “leg”, but when would you use one over the other? Please explain making reference to the below.

Pero dicen que Fernández tiene una lesión en la pierna
(But they say that Fernández has an injury to his leg.)

¡Me estás tomando el pelo!
(You’re pulling my leg!)

A ella tomaré el pelo
That will wind her up.(She, I will pull her leg)

I note that Pelo is defined as hair. So in Spanish, is the idiom actually "You are pulling my hair?" but it's translated as leg to make more sense in English?

Answer 1

I note that Pelo is defined as hair. So in Spanish, is the idiom actually "You are pulling my hair?" but it's translated as leg to make more sense in English?

This is exactly the case. Pelo means hair. 'Tomar el pelo' is an idiom which has the same meaning as 'to pull someone's leg' (or to wind someone up, or to kid someone, or to have someone on etc) does in English, but is different in literal meaning.

For idioms like these, when translated to a different language they are normally translated to a similar phrase if it exists. As you note, there can be some subtlety lost if a 1-1 analogue doesn't exist in the target language, and in those cases the translator may have to get more creative, but coincidentally "Tomar el pelo'" and "to pull someone's leg" are pretty much identical in meaning.