hot potato | Idiomator

Meaning: (uncountable)Achild'sgamein which playerspassaballor other item between them, with the object ofavoidingbeing left holding the item when timeexpires.Synonym:pass the parcel; (countable,idiomatic)Anunwantedproblemthat isawkwardordelicate.1969January 12, Benjamin Welles, “A Hot Potato for Nixon”, inThe New York Times‎[1],→ISSN:The “lame duck” Johnson Administration, in its final fortnight in office, grappled last week with a diplomatichot potatoin the form of the latest Soviet proposal for a “just and lasting” Middle East peace settlement.1984June 14, Carol Lawson, quoting Phyllis Silverman, “Parental Leave: a ‘Hot Potato’”, inThe New York Times‎[2],→ISSN:How do you handle the work of a woman out on leave, yet not lose a valuable employee down the road? At the same time, companies know this is ahot potato, and they have to do something.2021August 3, Ed Augustin, Daniel Montero, “Why the internet in Cuba has become a US political hot potato”, inThe Guardian‎[3]:Full connectivity returned 72 hours later, but the issue has become ahot potatoin the US.

Examples:

EN: You'd feel that you had a hot potato in your hand, and you'd want to drop it.
ES: Sentiría que tiene una papa caliente en la mano y querría dejarla caer.
EN: Mr. Messenger waves a checkbook in your face and you drop me like a hot potato.
ES: El Sr. Messenger te restriega la chequera por la cara y me pasas ahora la patata caliente.
EN: What do you think you're holding, a hot potato?
ES: ¿Qué sostienes? ¿Una papa caliente?
EN: Oh, hot potato, you gotta be good
ES: Oh, cariñín, tienes que ser buena
EN: You don't drop a stunt to sell papers like a hot potato. This is good for a couple of months. Know what I'd do?
ES: Claro, si se encuentra una exclusiva así no se suelta como si quemase, se le puede sacar jugo durante dos meses. ¿Sabe qué haría?
EN: - A hot potato, sir?
ES: - Superior. - ¿Una patata caliente?
EN: - Like a hot potato, boss.
ES: - Enseguida jefe.
EN: You think you're such a hot potato as a Claims Manager... such a wolf on a phony claim.
ES: Crees que eres el mejor en Reclamaciones... que nadie te engaña con una reclamación falsa.
EN: Maybe you won't, but you step out of line once... me and the gang will drop you like you were a hot potato.
ES: Quizás no, pero si se pasa de la raya, mi banda y yo le dejaremos como si fuera una patata caliente.
EN: If it doesn't turn out that way... if you think I'm trying to slip something over on you... like Tony says, you can drop me "like a hot potato."
ES: Si no lo pasáis bien... o si creéis que os estoy engañando, como dice Tony, podéis dejarme "como una patata caliente". ¿Qué decís?
EN: If you don't, I'm gonna drop you like you was a hot potato.
ES: Si no, te tiraré como una patata caliente. - Trato hecho. Buena suerte.
EN: Have I dropped somebody's hot potato in somebody else's lap?
ES: Bueno... ¿Qué hice? ¿Metí la pata?
EN: As soon as Isabel and Louisa went away I dropped him like a hot potato.
ES: En cuanto se fueron Isabel y Louisa, me olvidé de él en el acto.
EN: Did you know what a hot potato you had on your hands?
ES: ¿Sabía lo explosiva que era la batería que tenía entre manos?
EN: You're a hot potato, Brannan.
ES: Es usted muy impulsivo, Brannan.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).