踢皮球

tīpíqiú
idiom #49,843

Meanings

  1. 1 to pass the buck, to shirk and shuffle responsibility back and forth
  2. 2 to kick a ball around (literal)

Examples

Wǒ qù le sān ge bùmén, měi ge dōu tīpíqiú, méi rén yuànyì guǎn.
I went to three different departments and they all passed the buck — nobody wanted to deal with it.
Zhè jiàn shì bù néng zài tīpíqiú le, bìxū yǒu rén ná zhǔyi.
We can't keep passing this issue around — someone has to make a decision.

Tips

memory
Imagine a ball being kicked from one office to the next, never coming to rest. The image captures bureaucratic deflection perfectly — and mirrors the English 'pass the buck.'

Stroke Order

qiú