Popular Use
In popular usage, the Mexican standoff is sometimes used to refer to confrontations with only two opponents. Discussions of the Soviet Union – United States nuclear confrontation during the Cold War frequently used the term, specifically in reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The key element that makes such situations Mexican standoffs is the very close equality in power among all involved. The inability for any one party to advance their position safely is a condition common to any standoff; in a Mexican standoff, there is additionally no safe way for any party to withdraw from their position, making the standoff effectively permanent.
In financial circles, the Mexican standoff is typically used to connote a situation where one side wants something, like a concession of some sort, and is offering nothing of value, and the other side sees no value in agreeing to any changes so refuses to negotiate. Although both sides can benefit from the change, neither side can agree to a compensation value for agreeing to the change, and nothing is accomplished.
This expression came into usage during the last decade of the 19th century; the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary makes an unattributed claim that the term is of Australian origin. Other sources claim the reference is to the Mexican American War or post-war Mexican bandits in the 19th century.
The Mexican standoff is now considered a movie cliché through its frequent use as a plot device in motion pictures.
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Famous quotes containing the word popular:
“The poet needs a ground in popular tradition on which he may work, and which, again, may restrain his art within the due temperance. It holds him to the people, supplies a foundation for his edifice; and, in furnishing so much work done to his hand, leaves him at leisure, and in full strength for the audacities of his imagination.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)