Thread: to throw one under the bus

I would like to use a Mexican idiomatic expression as descriptive as the English ie above. Any good ideas?

thanks

No sé sobre un mexicanismo para esto, pero "hacerle la cruz a alguien" es una expresión idiomática coloquial y de uso general y diario, que significa cortar toda asociación con esa persona y actuar como si ésta no existiera. Espero que te sirva esto; se me ocurren formas coloquiales, pero no de México.

Thanks for your response. To throw one under the bus means to blame someone for a problem. One also might say, idiomatically, that they have made a person a sacrificial lamb.

any other ideas?

thanks

Originally Posted by Texitechie

Thanks for your response. To throw one under the bus means to blame someone for a problem. One also might say, idiomatically, that they have made a person a sacrificial lamb.

any other ideas?

thanks

Oh, I see! I searched for examples in the Internet and found some, including one about "Obama threw under the bus" that pastor whose remarks did so much damage during the campaign, then I deducted it was "hacerle la cruz". But as it seems, the reporter must have been a.... Republican .

Looking this idiom up, I found:

1. throw under the bus ( 240 up, 17 down)
to sacrifice some other person, usually one who is undeserving or at least vulnerable, to make personal gain.
He'd throw his mother under the bus if it'd mean he could beat the rap.

2. throw under the bus (147 up, 27 down)
One is thrown under the bus when they are made the scapegoat or blamed for something that wasn't their responsibility in the first place. A cover-up for your mistake.
Ruby Red, I didn't have time to do the business report, so I threw you under the bus and told the boss it was your job instead.

taken from Urban Dictionary ©1999-2008

Well, as far as I know there's no fixed expression that matches the meaning of this American idiom, but many:

"usar/utilizar a alguien de chivo expiatorio/chivo emisario" (to blame an innocent) --> this is general Spanish, probably utilizar and emisario in Mexico

"pagote" (someone selected to be incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit or, at most, for having a secondary role in that crime) --> "tener a alguien de pagote"

"vender" ---> "es capaz de vender a su madre con tal de lograr el éxito"

I have an exact match but for Argentinian slang, not Mexican ---> "mandar al muere" meaning both "put someone out of business" and "sacrifice someone as if he or she were a pawn in a chess game" sometimes, but not always, as if the person should be the convenient scapegoat. I'm sure there's a Mexican equivalent to this but I couldn't find it in the Mexican-Argentinian slang glossaries on the Internet.

[Learning English. Please, be indulgent!]

aleCcowaN,

Thank you very much for your response.

I really appreciate the time you took to understand and explain the idiom.

I get very frustrated with my Spanish. I had classes in elementary school, middle school, high school and the university and have spent a total of about 6 months in Mexico, so i can communicate fairly well, but nothing like i do in English.

I am a lifelong student of my native English language. I love the richness of idiomatic expression.

On the other hand, my use of Spanish is flat, uninteresting and academic.

I think it is about time for me to start reading Spanish Language literature. Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes to mind. I think i'll get two copies of 'Love in the Time of Cholera', one in Spanish and one in English and read the Spanish, using the English for a reference when i find something interesting.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Max