Fall Guy
     A fall guy is the person who someone decides will be the loser  or
 victim. The first fall guys were men who wrestled for money.   At  the
 end of the last century, wrestling was a very  popular  sport  in  the
 United States. Wrestling matches were held not only in big cities, but
 at country fairs and travelling  shows.   As  the  sport  became  more
 populate it became less and less of a sport. Many of the contests were
 fixed. The wrestlers knew before the match which one of them would  be
 the winner. The goal in wrestling is to hold your opponent's shoulders
 down against the floor. This is called "a fall". Sometimes one of  the
 wrestlers would be paid before the match to  take  "the  fall"  .   He
 agreed to be the loser- the fall guy.
     Today a fall guy is anyone who is talked or trapped into taking  a
 blame for someone else's crime or wrong doing. There are fall guys  in
 many situations, people who publicly take the blame when something goes
 wrong. A fall guy takes the rap for something wrong  or  illegal.   He
 accepts responsibility and  punishment  for  what  someone  else  did,
 although the fall guy also may have been involved.
     The word rap has meant "blame" for  several  hundred  years,   the
 expression to take the rap first was used about one hundred years ago.
 Another similar expression is bumrap. A person receives the bumrap  if
 he is found guilty of a crime, but is really  innocent.   Sometimes  a
 fall guy may not know he is the fall guy until he gets the bumrap.  In
 that case, he may be framed. This means false evidence was created  to
 make an innocent person  seem  guilty.   Some  word  experts  say  the
 expression to frame someone comes from the way  wood  must  be  fitted
 closely around the painting or photograph to frame it. In the same way
 evidence must be designed perfectly if it  si  to  frame  an  innocent
 person to make him seem guilty.

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