to PASS the BUCK 推卸責任

from: http://www.studentpost.com.tw/american/default.asp?sIssue=1134

to PASS the BUCK 推卸責任

The history of this idiom goes back to the American frontier days. During the early 1700s, hunters killed many deer, using their skins for barter. The male deer is called a "buck", and buckskin was prized as a material for making durable outdoor clothing. In a trading camp, a hunter would pass the buckskin that he'd collected to a trader, who would give him money or goods in return. Because of this association, the American dollar came to be called "a buck". In slang, 1 dollar = 1 buck, and 15 dollars = 15 bucks.

Although everyone likes money, the idiom "passing the buck" eventually came to mean passing along something unwanted or undesirable! When a person doesn't want to accept blame for something bad, they may instead blame someone else. Passing on the responsibility for unpleasant things became known as "passing the buck".


//== 解說 ==//
在十七世紀，獵人獵取公鹿，拿公鹿皮換現金。
在俚語裡，一美元就是一頭公鹿。

雖然大家都愛錢，
但是現在成語passing the buck卻是指把不想要的東西推卸出去。
當某人不想被責罵時，他反而會去則怪別人。
推卸不喜歡的事情的責任就變成現在大家都知道的passing the buck



frontier n. 國境/邊境
eg: frontier police 邊境警察

barter v. 拿...進行易貨貿易[(+for/with)]
barter n. 易貨貿易
eg: The mountain farmers barter high-valued apples for money.

buck n. 雄鹿