Pagar o pato
Meaning: To take the blame for something you didn't do.
Language: Portuguese
Literally: To pay the duck
Category: Animals
Origin: No source settles on a confirmed origin, though the most frequently repeated theory points to an old public game once played in Portuguese towns: a live duck was tied to a pole, and players took turns trying to free it in a single attempt; anyone who failed had to pay, in money, for the sacrificed bird. That specific historical practice isn't itself well documented, leaving the theory more plausible than proven. A second, related family of explanations ties the duck more loosely to festival customs and oral tradition across the Iberian Peninsula, where a duck functioned as a stand-in for an unpaid debt, with whoever covered its cost symbolically settling an obligation that wasn't originally theirs. Both threads converge on the same modern sense: paying a price, literal or figurative, for a mess someone else actually made.
More idioms — Animals
- Nu komt de aap uit de mouw — The truth is finally revealed.
- Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy — Not my problem; I'm not getting involved.
- Gdzie raki zimują — To be in serious trouble; to learn a harsh lesson.
- ऊँट के मुँह में जीरा (Ūṅṭ ke muṅh meṅ jīrā) — A laughably tiny amount for something that needs much more.
- बंदर क्या जाने अदरक का स्वाद (bandar kya jaane adrak ka svaad) — An ignorant person can't appreciate something refined.
- The last straw that broke the camel's back — The final small burden that causes a total collapse.
More Portuguese idioms
- Descascar o abacaxi — To solve a very difficult, thorny problem.
- Empurrar com a barriga — To procrastinate; to keep delaying something.
- Matar a cobra e mostrar o pau — To prove you actually did what you claim.
- dar um jeito — Find a creative solution or workaround, often bending rules pragmatically.
- estar com a corda no pescoço — Be in serious financial or personal trouble with no easy escape.
- meter os pés pelas mãos — Make a clumsy mistake or bungle something badly through carelessness.
From our tongue twisters
- A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha. — Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter…
- O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma; a rainha com raiva roeu o resto. — An unstoppable 'r' trill drill — every key word begins or ends with the Portuguese r.
- Um tigre, dois tigres, três tigres tristes triscam trigo num trigal. — A 'tr' cluster drill that adds a sad adjective to make the alliteration worse.