Echarle a uno el muerte

Question

I think this is a bit different to 'passing the buck' - can anyone think of an English equivalent? It's such a gem!

Echarle a uno el muerto

La expresión echar el muerto y sus variantes (echar el muerto a casa, a puerta ajena o al vecino), se utilizan comúnmente para imputar a un tercero la culpa de lo que no ha hecho.

This expression and its variants are commonly used to lay the blame for some crime or other onto a third person who didn't do it.

Al parecer, el origen de la expresión se remonta a la Edad Media. Según las leyendas medievales, cuando dentro del término de un pueblo aparecía el cadáver de una persona muerta de forma violenta y no se llegaba a esclarecer quién había cometido el asesinato, los habitantes de dicho municipio estaban obligados a pagar una multa.

Apparently, its origin is back in the Middle Ages. According to the mediaeval legends, when the corpse of person who had died due to an apparent violent cause was discovered in the municipal district of a town, and it didn't become clear who had murdered them. the inhabitants of said municipality would be required to pay a fine.

Para evitar saldar la sanción, que se conoce como 'homicisium', los vecinos aguzaban el ingenio hasta límites insospechados. Uno de los recursos más utilizados era no airear el hallazgo, meter el cadáver o cadáveres en sacos y, en la oscuridad de la noche, arrojarlos en el término de otro pueblo próximo. Echar el muerto a otro pueblo vecino equivalía, pues, a cargarle con la responsabilidad de un crimen y con la multa correspondiente, salvo que se entregara o se capturara al asesino.

To avoid paying the fine, which was known as 'homicisium', the neighbours took their ingenuity to surprising levels. One of the most frequent resorts was to keep quiet about it, put the body or bodies into sacks, and in the middle of the night throw them across to the next town. This therefore put the onus of the crime and the fine onto the people of that town, unless the murderer was handed over or captured.

That's a rough translation which I hope preserves the meaning.

Any ideas for the English equivalent?

genial y se usa mucho!! - 00494d19, Jun 5, 2011

Answer 1

Hmm, how about to pin the blame on somebody?

Oh, I also found this:

lay the blame at somebody's door

Sounds better. To pass the buck can just mean that you don't wish to deal with the bother or problems (headaches) of something so you pass it on to someone else. - 0074b507, Jun 5, 2011

Answer 2

"Pass the buck" and "scapegoat" connote laying the responsibility for something gone wrong at the feet of an innocent third party. However, these usually moral or social imply responsiblity as opposed to criminal behavior. Gal Sally includes criminal culpability in her original post.

I agree that "pin the blame" can encompass both moral/social and criminal responsibility better than "pass the buck".

In Galsally's translation,

This therefore put the onus of the crime and the fine onto the people of that town, unless the murderer was handed over or captured.

one could easily substitute "pin the blame" for "pass the buck":

This therefore pinned the blame for the crime, and the fine, onto the people of that other town, unless the murderer was handed over or captured.

However, I think the original translation works fine as it is.

My two cents,

Jeremy

Good point about the substitution, Jeremiah, thanks. :) - galsally, Jun 7, 2011

Answer 3

One way of saying that in English is to use the word "scapegoat" Here's a wiki link:

link text

That Holman Hunt painting is pretty weird but then most of his work is. Arguably Saddam was Bush and Blairs scapegoat for the 9/11 attacks.

Answer 4

Thanks for those, I'm still uncertain but I should think any of them would do, I guess we'd use a different one for different circumstances, for example, to me:

'scapegoat' often has a 'killing 2 birds with one stone' function, as in Birdie's Saddam example, being somewhat malicious? If the villagers don't get on with the inhabitants of the next village, mjake them all scapegoats...!

Also found this: Levitico 16:10 10 pero presentará vivo ante el Señor, como propiciación, el macho cabrío que soltará en el desierto; es decir, lo enviará a Azazel.

and this: Chivo expiatorio. 1. m. Macho cabrío que el sumo sacerdote sacrificaba por los pecados de los israelitas.

'pass the buck' I associate with shifting blame in a situation where there is a hierarchy, ie at work, where the 'buck' can be passed upwards to the boss, or, more frequently (again, arguably....) downwards, to the worker.

pin/lay the blame on somebody/at somebody's door very similar to the Spanish, I think.

AND....

Patsy/ fallguy - Spanish definition here, La person a quien le hacen parecer culpable. These words have the same feel but for a single person. Also to me it implies that maybe the person is a bit of an easy target to use, either because of being a bit gullible, or because of circumstances which make it easy to blame them.