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  • Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 54. The word origins today is to pass

  • the buck. So we're covering an idiom word origin. Okay. Let's look at the note here.

  • The idiom to pass the buck means to shift. Shift means change the blame for

  • something to another person or past work or task on to others. So maybe you were

  • assigned it than you're giving your work to somebody else , especially a

  • subordinate. Maybe somebody who's below you. All right. Let's continue.

  • Basically to reassign the responsibility for tasks to another person. Let's

  • continue. The origin of the phrase goes all the way back to the second half of

  • the 19th century when poker became popular. Yes. It was probably like

  • during the cowboy days , especially out west. In order to reduce the capability

  • of players to cheat, the deal past hands. It means so if you're the person who's you

  • know shuffling the cards the next hand that goes to the next person going

  • around the table. Okay. So in order to reduce the capability of players to

  • cheat the deal passed hands around the table. So each player took turns at being

  • the dealer. Each hand this responsibility, responsibility was passed to the next

  • player. The person whose turn it was to deal was often given a knife to mark it

  • was his turn. This knife usually had a handle made of buck horn. So here's where

  • the buck actually comes in. . It's not about a dollar bill. It's about you know the

  • animal. You know, the buck. So the buck horn therefore they were passing the

  • buck. So that's where pass the buck this phrase actually came from. All right. Let's

  • continue. Some people believe the idea of blame was added because you know, first

  • it was more like just responsibility. Some people

  • believe the idea of blame was added after Harry and Truman, remember the

  • president. I think I actually did a video of this quote. That he had you know, "the

  • buck stops here." Okay. He became famous for his quote the buck stops here. Meaning

  • that the responsibility and the blame will be taken for one's own actions. Because

  • you know, even in politics a lot of times, they like to pass the blame onto

  • somebody else. So they are saying no the buck stops here. We did this. If it doesn't

  • work you can criticize us or blame us. The buck stops here. So it sounds like

  • somebody who's more responsible. They're actually taking you know, you know , taking

  • the credit in case well one it's good but also if it's if it fails. Okay.

  • He will usually pass the buck on to someone else.

  • All right. So , so let's continue here. Let's look at these examples. James will never

  • admit if he is to blame, he will usually pass the buck on to

  • someone else. All right. So this is just the way that we use the phrase today or

  • number two. My manager will often give his dirty work you know, these are the

  • unpleasant tasks or unpleasant jobs. He just passed the buck to me. So again, this

  • is ... this is a case where you're passing work on to someone else. Okay.

  • Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was formative. Thank you for your time.

  • Bye-bye.

Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 54. The word origins today is to pass

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