Phrases, Clichés, Expressions, and Sayings says this slang expression, which Dagwood used in a recent comic to describe why he thought his barber had given him a bad haircut, originated in the 1980s to describe someone trying to annoy or get a reaction. The story given is that the female mayor of Ottawa was introduced to the mayor of London. She had a flower in her lapel, and he was bedecked in medals and chains. He asks haughtily, “If I sniff your rose, will you blush?” She replied, “And if I pull your chain, will you flush?”