Definition

1. Verb phrase:
   • To pass the buck around, to shift responsibility around: To mutually or reciprocally blame others, to avoid taking responsibility by pushing it onto each other in a circular manner. This action often involves multiple parties in a group or system.

Usage Examples

• Verb phrase:
  • Khi dự án thất bại, họ chỉ biết đổ quanh cho nhau. (When the project failed, they only knew how to pass the buck around to each other.)
  • Thay vì giải quyết vấn đề, ban lãnh đạo cứ đổ quanh trách nhiệm. (Instead of solving the problem, the leadership kept shifting the responsibility around.)

Advanced Usage

• "Đổ quanh đẩy trách nhiệm": A common collocation emphasizing the act of evading and pushing duty.
  • Tình trạng đổ quanh đẩy trách nhiệm trong cơ quan đó đã kéo dài nhiều năm. (The situation of passing the buck and shirking responsibility in that agency has lasted for many years.)

Variants and Related Words

• Đổ lỗi (verb): To blame, to put the blame on someone.
  • Anh ta luôn tìm cách đổ lỗi cho người khác. (He always finds a way to blame others.)
• Đùn đẩy (verb): To shirk, to evade (responsibility).
  • Hai bộ phận đùn đẩy công việc cho nhau. (The two departments shirked work onto each other.)

Synonyms

• Chối bỏ trách nhiệm: To deny responsibility.
• Đá quả bóng trách nhiệm: To kick the responsibility can (an idiomatic synonym).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Đổ cho (ai): To blame (someone), to pin on (someone).
  • Đừng đổ lỗi cho tôi. (Don't blame me.)
• Đổ tại (điều gì): To blame on (something), to attribute fault to (something).
  • Họ đổ tại thời tiết xấu. (They blamed it on the bad weather.)

Related Idioms

• Vạch áo cho người xem lưng: Literally "to tear one's shirt to show others the back"; meaning to publicly expose each other's faults or blame each other openly.
  • Cuộc họp biến thành cảnh vạch áo cho người xem lưng. (The meeting turned into a scene of publicly blaming each other.)
• Chuột sa chĩnh gạo: Literally "a mouse falling into a rice jar"; often used to describe a situation where someone is caught in a predicament, but can relate to blame-shifting in contexts where everyone tries to avoid being the "mouse".
  • Ai cũng sợ thành chuột sa chĩnh gạo nên đổ quanh cho hết. (Everyone was afraid of becoming the scapegoat, so they all passed the buck around.)

1. Pass the buck round, shift the responsibility round