词条 | Fall guy |
释义 |
Fall guy is a colloquial phrase that refers to a person to whom blame is deliberately and falsely attributed in order to deflect blame from another party. OriginThe origin of the term "fall guy" is unknown and contentious. Many sources place its origin in the early 20th century, while some claim an earlier origin. In April 2007, William Safire promoted a search to unearth its origins.[1][2] Four slightly different usages for "fall guy" survive and their origins are probably different. These usages are:
The phrase may have multiple, separate origins. Criminal usage goes back to the original sense of "felon" (derived from fallen, morally). Other alternatives and citations
Discredited originsGuy FawkesVarious sources attribute the origin of fall guy to Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. This has been largely discredited.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}} Teapot connectionOne popular myth is that the word's origin dates to the 1920s, during the administration of U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1921–1923), when Albert B. Fall, a U.S. Senator from New Mexico who served as Secretary of the Interior during Harding's years in office, became notorious for his involvement in the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} Though this is a popular story, references to 'fall guy' and Albert Fall have not been found. The book The Tempest Over Teapot Dome contains no references to "fall guy". A Time article from the period makes no reference to "fall guys", although the scandal may have had yet to fully play out.[17] However, this event may have popularized the phrase (via post-hoc eponymy).{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}} Political crossoverLegitimization occurred in the 1940s, primarily with the meaning of "take on work/responsibility". A paper on "Isolationism is not dead" quotes an anonymous editorial from a paper in the Pacific Northwest on the topic of the Bretton Woods and the Food Conferences upon which the US became the "fall guy, the one to carry the load".{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} By 1950 in the context of unions and industrial society, the term referred to the low man on the totem pole, to whom the unpleasant tasks would be assigned, specifically that of filling out questionnaires.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} By the 1950s and 1960s, "fall guy" came to mean public "whipping boy" in the abstract, metaphorical sense. In a 1960 paper called the "Politics of Pollution", Robert Bulard writes public officials, to deflect criticism over landfills, found a "fall guy", but they blamed abstract, faceless bodies: "the federal government, state governments and private disposal companies" rather than an individual.[18] Other abstract 'fall guys' included the railroad and bank capital.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Use of the political "fall guy" is exemplified in the following three events:
Other usesIn corporate managerial classes, by 1988 the "fall guy" was institutionalized as a principle, a component of what every good manager needed.[25] A few examples of fall guys:[26]
See also
References1. ^William Safire, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/magazine/01wwln-safire.t.html "Sweet Spot"], New York Times Magazine, 1 Apr 2007 2. ^William Safire, [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/magazine/29wwlnsafire.t.html "Fall Guy"], The New York Times Magazine, 29 Apr 2007 3. ^[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/407128001.html?dids=407128001:407128001&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+26%2C+1903&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=PLOT+TO+DEFEAT+MUELLER+BILL&pqatl=google PLOT TO DEFEAT MUELLER BILL] April 26, 1903 Chicago Tribune 4. ^1 {{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/01f4571ca01a5354/c7794bc822a3d42c?lnk=raot&&_done=%2Fgroup%2Falt.usage.english%2Fbrowse_thread%2Fthread%2F01f4571ca01a5354%2Fc7794bc822a3d42c%3Flnk%3Draot%26 |title=Origin of "fall guy" - alt.usage.english | Google Groups |publisher=Groups.google.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 5. ^{{cite news|author= |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C1FF83A5A12738DDDA00A94DC405B868CF1D3 |title=Who Planned the Steunenberg Murder? - Forthcoming Trial of the Men Charged With Conspiracy in the Assassination of Idaho's Ex-Governor. Most Sensational Case of Its Kind Since the Trial of Guiteau, the Murderer of Garfield-Will the Extraordinary Confession of Orchard, Who Turned State's Evidence, Be Corroborated? Who Planned the Assassination of Ex-Governor Steunenberg of Idaho? - Article - NYTimes.com |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=2012-06-10 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 6. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Fall&searchmode=none |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |publisher=Etymonline.com |date= |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 7. ^{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fall-guy.html |title=Fall guy |publisher=Phrases.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 8. ^The New York Times, February 28, 1911, Tuesday 9. ^{{cite news|author= |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/02/28/archives/poolroom-sharps-swoop-on-baseball-crippled-badly-by-race-track.html |title=POOLROOM SHARPS SWOOP ON BASEBALL - Crippled Badly by Race Track Legislation, Gamblers Turn to National Game. - Article - NYTimes.com |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=2012-06-10 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 10. ^{{cite news|author= |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0A16FC3C5F1B728DDDA00994DF405B818FF1D3 |title=WORDS NOT WHAT THEY SEEM - In Underworld Argot They Have Different Meanings From Those Found in Dictionaries - Article - NYTimes.com |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=2012-06-10 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 11. ^{{cite journal|jstor=452013|title=Hobo Lingo|first=Nicholas|last=Klein|date=1 January 1926|publisher=|journal=American Speech|volume=1|issue=12|pages=650–653|doi=10.2307/452013}} 12. ^{{cite journal|jstor=452929|title=The Lingo of the Good-People|first=David W.|last=Maurer|date=1 January 1935|publisher=|journal=American Speech|volume=10|issue=1|pages=10–23|doi=10.2307/452929}} 13. ^{{cite web|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Fall%20guy|title=Fall guy - Everything2.com|publisher=}} 14. ^{{cite web|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=bite|title=bite - Everything2.com|publisher=}} 15. ^{{cite news|author= |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/02/27/archives/circus-fans-induct-admiral-woodward-he-becomes-the-fall-guy-for.html |title=CIRCUS FANS INDUCT ADMIRAL WOODWARD - He Becomes the 'Fall Guy' for Saints and Sinners |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=2012-06-10 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 16. ^http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-03-19-voa2.cfm {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407000832/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-03-19-voa2.cfm |date=April 7, 2007 }} 17. ^{{cite news|author=iPad iPhone Android TIME TV Populist The Page |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928930-1,00.html |title=National Affairs: Villains? Goat? |publisher=TIME |date=1928-10-29 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 18. ^{{cite journal|last=Bullard|first=Robert D.|author2=Beverly Hendrix Wright |title=The Politics of Pollution: Implications for the Black Community|journal=Phylon|date=1986|volume=47|issue=1|pages=71–78 |jstor=274696 |doi=10.2307/274696}} 19. ^{{cite web|url=http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/The_critics/Joesten/Joestenbio.html |title=Biography of Joachim Joesten |publisher=Karws.gso.uri.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-03-01 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205201538/http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/The_critics/Joesten/Joestenbio.html |archivedate=2012-02-05 |df= }} 20. ^{{cite news|last=Press |first=United |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/20/archives/mitchell-rejects-role-of-fall-guy-has-clear-conscience-says-he-did.html |title=MITCHELL REJECTS ROLE OF 'FALL GUY' - Has 'Clear Conscience' Says He Did Nothing Wrong 'Mentally 'or Morally' in the Watergate Scandal Mitchell Rejects 'Fall Guy' Role And Denies Guilt on Watergate - Front Page - NYTimes.com |publisher=Select.nytimes.com |date=1973-05-20 |accessdate=2013-03-01}} 21. ^{{cite journal|jstor=375189|title=Public Doublespeak: On Mistakes and Misjudgments|first=Terence P.|last=Moran|date=1 January 1975|publisher=|journal=College English|volume=36|issue=7|pages=837–843|doi=10.2307/375189}} 22. ^{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40B14F63B5C0C758DDDAC0894DB484D81|title=ESSAY; TO PAY PAUL|first=William|last=Safire|date=16 May 1983|publisher=NYTimes.com}} 23. ^{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B13FD385C0C7A8EDDAE0894DD484D81|title=ESSAY; Help Wanted: Villain|first=William|last=Safire|date=29 July 1985|publisher=NYTimes.com}} 24. ^See official transcript, but also "The discourse of American civil society: A new proposal for cultural studies". Jeffrey C. Alexander and Philip Smith. Theory & Society: Vol 22, No 2, p 189. 25. ^{{cite book|last=Jackall|first=Robert|title=Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers|date=January 1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195060806|page=85}} 26. ^{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602676.html |title=Put Out to Scapegoat Pasture |publisher=Washingtonpost.com |date= 2007-03-18|accessdate=2013-03-01 |first=Rachel |last=Dry}} External links
3 : English phrases|Stock characters|Ethics |
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