Liliputin- 5217

Whoever keeps kicking the can down the road on gun-control legislation will  carry the can for collapse of public safety ... ”
Bill Maher

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this ?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101


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carry the can
To take the blame for something, often another's mistakes or misdeeds. Primarily heard in UK, Australia.
My partner had been cooking the books for years, but because I was the CEO, I had to carry the can for our company's collapse.
I'm the coach, and I called a bad play, so I deserve to carry the can for this loss.
See also: can, carry
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
carry the can
Take responsibility or accept blame, as in Joan felt she was always carrying the can for her boss's errors. [Slang; second half of 1900s]
See also: can, carry
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
carry the can BRITISH
COMMON If you carry the can, you are blamed for something bad that has happened even though you are not the only person responsible for it. It annoys me that I was the only one who carried the can for that defeat. Members of the Government clearly decided to let Lowe carry the can. Note: This was originally a military expression referring to the man chosen to fetch a container of beer for a group of soldiers.
See also: can, carry
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
carry the can take responsibility for a mistake or misdeed. British informal
The origin of this expression and the nature of the can involved are both uncertain, though the idiom appears to have started life as early 20th-century naval or military slang.
1998 Times Was this the same Mr Cook who danced on the Tories' graves for not carrying the can for errors of their officials?
See also: can, carry
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
carry the ;can (for somebody/something) (British English, informal) accept the responsibility or blame for something: The teachers who were criticized said that they would not carry the can for the faults in the school system. OPPOSITE: pass the buckThis may come from military slang. The person who carried the can was responsible for collecting a can containing beer for the whole group and bringing it back without spilling any.
See also: can, carry
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

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Kick the Can Down the Road

Meaning of Idiom ‘Kick the Can Down the Road’
To kick the can down the road means to avoid or delay dealing with a problem, especially by using a short-term solution in the hopes that a final solution will become someone else’s problem.



Usage Notes
The phrase ‘kick the can down the road’ is used quite often in American politics. It refers not only to trying to ignore a problem but to continually enacting stopgap or band-aid solutions so as to defer a final and definitive action, often because of political ramifications.

Examples Of Use
“Congress keeps kicking the can down the road on gun-control legislation while we are meanwhile facing and epidemic of gun-violence.”

“We can’t keep borrowing from the other location to fund this failing one. If we keep kicking the can down the road, the entire company will fail.”

“Our grandkids will be stuck with all our problems. We’ve been kicking the can down the road for years.”

“They passed a temporary spending bill that just kicks the can down the road for two months, at which time another government shutdown will be at stake.”

Origin
This phrase has been used figuratively since the early to mid-1980s.

It is often claimed to derive from the children’s game “kick the can,” played since the great depression. This is, at best, a case of over-analysis since another time-honored way to idly pass time is to kick an actual can down the road, and then, when approaching it, kicking it again, and then again, etc. Undoubtedly, this is what the idiom refers to.

There is a Canadian idiom ‘kick at the can’ meaning an opportunity to achieve something or do something, that may have actually derived from the children’s game.