Is there a word or phrase that succinctly describes the act of pulling the chair when someone's sitting?
If there isn't a word or phrase that describes this act is that (pulling the chair when someone's sitting) an appropriate description of the act?
Clunky as it seems, there is a preponderance of examples of "pulled the chair out from under..." in Google. It is also idiomatic to mean that someone is caught off-guard or unprepared as in this example:
Grizzlies pull chair out from under Durant and Thunder, take Game 2, 99-93
I doubt it. Do you know any language that would have a word for it? :-)
Decathedration? Used by Alexander Hamilton in 'The History of the Ancient and Venerable Tuesday Club'(1745-1756). Although I admit the accompanying illustration shows on that occasion they're pulling the sitting person out of the chair, rather than the chair from under the sitting person.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/ideas/text4/tuesdayclub.pdf
The best generic description might be "pratfall", which began as an expression that meant "to fall on your buttocks".
