to pass the blame
fault - it is his fault

not really a black peter

i'm not sure i understand what 'bug' has to do with 'schwarzer Peter' what do you mean by bug?

i think you might mean bag.

They left me holding the bag, means i got blamed for stuff i didn't necessarily do.
you couldn't really use it to translate den SP zuschieben, though.

It is clear.

really

@ Marco
 
Du meinst wohl 'to pass the buck', den schwarzen Peter zuschieben'?

Dictionary: pass the buck

pass the buck sounds like totally american! I like totally can't stand that expression! You like totallier. You don't have to pollute the whole language with U.S. terms.

We are not amused

To pass the buck is not AE but is also very English. However, it isn't quite the same as having the "Schwarzer Peter". To pass the buck means passing blame on and to have the Schwarzer Peter means to
be left holding the bag/baby

really when there is no-one else to pass the buck onto! :)

i agree with suziq.
den Schwarzen Peter zuschieben ist auch nicht pass the buck, oder?
den SP zuschieben means i want a specific person to take the blame for something whereas pass the4 buck just means i don't want to get blamed right?
SP has something to do with scapegoat but that's still not it i don't think.
hat nichts mit 'to frame someone' zu tun oder?

@schwänzer - if we look at the original question, he said "Er HAT den Schwarzen Peter" so we don't have to think about passing anything on. To have the SP means that you are the one left with something unpleasant (to do). It is a card game (there is a similar one in GB but I've forgotten the name) and the person left with this card (which everyone else has tried to get rid of during the game) has lost.

@ susiq: It sounds like the card game that I know in AE as "the Old Maid."

If the idea is that the person with the Schwarzen Peter has to do some unpleasant task, the expression I would use is "He got the short straw."

If the idea is that the person is being blamed for something that really wasn't his fault or is taking the entire blame for something that several people did, one could say "He's the fall guy" or "He was left holding the bag."

If the allusion to the card game is important to the context, I think most Americans would understand someone saying "He was left with the Old Maid" as meaning that he got stuck with something he didn't want, e.g., the unpleasant assignment. Bt this would not be a common, set experssion.

@sharper - thanks, Old Maid - the card game is only important in that I tried to explain to schwänzer what the Schwarzer Peter was about. Short straw is a good alternative. Holding the bag/baby are also suggestions which work - in AE and BE - I would say "Fall guy" is more AE so the other suggestions maybe better (unless specifically AE is called for and then it would become a good alternative.)

Präsident Truman hatte auf seinem Schreibtisch in Schild mit der Aufschrift "The buck stops here".
Er wollte damit sagen "I don't pass the buck to anybody else", sondern ich allein trage die Verantwortung.

"ein Schild"

Ich bin es leid, den Schwarzen Peter zu bekommen.

Wie lautet denn hier die Passivkonstruktion?
"I am tired of having the buck passed?" ... of getting, of being?

Overall responsibility is what is meant by 'buck'. It comes from poker where a small object stood in front of the dealer. And it's perfectly good. BE too.

'Left holding the baby' hits the spot.

....

To answer Loremips' question:
I am tired of being passed the buck.

Vielen Dank!