Throw under the bus
To throw (someone) under the bus is an idiomatic phrase meaning to sacrifice another person (often a friend or ally), who is usually not deserving of such treatment, out of malice or for personal gain.
The phrase has been widely popularized by sports journalists since 2004 and was picked up by the mainstream media during the 2008 primary season. It has frequently been used to describe various politicians distancing themselves from unpopular or controversial figures. David Segal, a writer for The Washington Post, calls the expression "the cliché of the 2008 campaign."[1]
In a March 2008 NPR report, the linguist Geoff Nunberg noted that ‘under the bus’ "has appeared in more than 400 press stories on the campaign over the last six months."[2]
[edit] Origins
A relative early use is attributed by the Double-Tongued Dictionary[3] to a 1991 article in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.[4]
Cyndi Lauper[1] is sometimes wrongly quoted[5][6] as saying in the The Washington Post in 1984: "In the rock ’n’ roll business, you are either on the bus or under it. Playing ‘Feelings’ with Eddie and the Condos in a buffet bar in Butte is under the bus." However, those lines were written by journalist David Remnick and they are not attributed in the article to Lauper or anyone else.[7]
[edit] Examples
- "He not only threw me under the bus, he backed up and ran over me again." Larry Craig on Mitt Romney[1]
- "His public performance in the last 24 hours has had the unintended consequence of throwing Senator Obama's campaign under the bus." Eugene Rivers on Jeremiah Wright[1]
- "Did the press secretary know it when he threw the president's own father under the wheels of the bus of history, last night?" Keith Olbermann on Tony Snow's comment in 2006 that the US abandoned Bin Laden in 1991[8]
- "When Obama cited [his grandmother] in his speech on race last spring, the right immediately accused him of 'throwing his grandmother under the bus.'"[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Segal, David (April 2, 2008). "Time to Hit The Brakes On That Cliche". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003607.html. Retrieved 2008-10-26. "This humble mode of transportation has become an unstoppable serial killer this presidential season, metaphorically speaking. Hardly a week goes by without someone reviving the cliche of the 2008 campaign -- that a former ally of a candidate has been thrown under a bus."
- ^ Nunberg, Geoff (April 2, 2008). "Primaries Toss Some “Under the Bus”". Fresh Air (NPR). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89834261. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ Barrett, Grant (October 2, 2006). "throw (someone) under the bus". Double-Tongued Dictionary. http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/throw_someone_under_the_bus/. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ Emory, Erin (December 12, 1991). "Hood talks without thinking, friends testify at murder trial". Gazette Telegraph.
- ^ Safire, William (November 19, 2006). "Netroots". New York Times Magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/magazine/19wwln_safire.html. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
- ^ Dokoupil, Tony (March 19, 2002). "‘Under the Bus'". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/124292. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
- ^ Remnick, David (September 7, 1984). "Pensive, With Orange Hair Cyndi Lauper & Her Tunes on Tour". Washington Post.
- ^ "Countdown". MSNBC. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-16359476_ITM. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
- ^ Rich, Frank (October 25, 2008). "In Defense of White Americans". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26rich.html?em. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
