sick of this phrase

You know what phrase I’m sick of?  “Thrown under the bus.”

That’s right, I’m sick of “thrown under the bus.”  At first, I thought this was a hip, catchy sort of phrase that had a certain emotive punch.  It scores rhetorical points by painting a picture, a graphic picture in the mind of the hearer. Violent and visceral.

The problem is that it is always used about one’s self.  “Oh! well then so-and–so threw me under the bus!” I’m hearing this phrase on a regular basis now. Eeeevery time someone gets called down, criticized, reprimanded, or spoken ill of, “Ew, he just thuh-rew me under the bus!  Pity me, o man. I too am among the downtrodden.  I know bitterness, injustice and betrayal.  I have been *THREWN* under the bus!”

So, in my job when I have to tell Shmoe Farquarson that he needs to handle a certain situation himself, and I do it in the presence of one or two others, I have just thrown  him under the bus. No matter that Shmoe really was in need of a little prod. No matter that I have actually suffered incalculable grief and criticism because of errors that Shmoe made, but because I am the manager I take responsibility for it in the eyes of our customer. No matter that I have really decided that Shmoe is a liability to the company and should be fired.  Shmoe has a silver bullet. The role of the martyr.  Because I…

THREW

…him under…

th’ BUS.