Mexican standoff

Mexican standoff

slang An impasse, deadlock, or stalemate from which no party involved will or can emerge victorious. Also written "stand-off." (Note: This phrase may be considered offensive to Mexicans or those of Mexican heritage.) Primarily heard in US. No one on the board of directors was willing to compromise their position on the issue, and with each of us having veto power, it looked like we were heading into a Mexican standoff.
See also: Mexican
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • break the deadlock
  • chip
  • chips
  • up on (one's) ear
  • with honours even
  • Two Bob
  • honours are even
  • mutton
  • (as) dead as mutton
  • dead as mutton
References in periodicals archive
The layering of analog and digital techniques for production and reproduction is central to the work's meaning, but Mexican Standoff is no mere display of technique.
Gilbert described the scene in Albany as a Mexican standoff between Governor Mario N.
Today, the pizza business is in a "Mexican standoff." Paul Simeonidis, owner of a Santa Lucia franchise in the upmarket Winnipeg suburb of River Heights, says 80 percent of Winnipeg's pizza operators give two-for-one deals.
MEXICAN STANDOFF: Hamilton has taken pole to keep his title hopes alive
To return to the 'Mexican standoff ' where you encounter the couple who induce amnesia.
McKay is obviously having a blast staging explosions, chases and even an epic Mexican standoff (backed by "Bourne" producer Patrick Crowley and an all-pro crew, the action looks aces); a pity that the pic bogs down in an unnecessarily complicated evil-investor plot.
Confirmed deals thus far include distribution of the South African feature "Mr.Bones 2" in the Middle East by Alchemy Films; acquisition of renowned animator Bill Plympton's two latest 35 mm films: "Santa, the Fascist Years" and "Bill's Mexican Standoff" by Shorts International; the launch of a large, Dubai-based CGI project; and progress on acquisitions of a large number of films by SBS in Australia.
The "Mexican standoff" at that corner, as depicted by board member Clifford Thompson, appeared to mimic the status of the project; the Planning Board and Brady Sullivan Properties couldn't reach agreement, not even over a traffic light.
Singer-songwriter Shocked serves up gutsy guitar album Don't Ask Don't Tell, a Tex-Mex collection titled Mexican Standoff and Got No Strings, which revises Disney favourites with startling results.
Throughout the Cold War the rapid proliferation of nuclear arsenals created a "Mexican standoff" whereby any large-scale confrontation would have effectively obliterated the entire planet.
It began running advertisements in trade magazines and coupons in newspaper circulars, calling Cholula "the perfect complement." It even offered a US$1 booklet featuring 22 recipes that use Cholula, from "Tequila Filet Saute'" to a drink called "The Mexican Standoff"--a mixture of one cup ice, 1 1/2 ounces of Cuervo Especial, one teaspoon Cholula and four ounces of pink grapefruit juice.
His movies are formulaic but the formula is unique, a wild collision of things - the rupture of narrative time, rougher and more radical than Godard's; the layering of quotations from other movies; the characters besotted by their own eloquence; the Mexican standoff; the petty conversation carried on during horrendous violence.
Mexican standoff was " They then told how Meghan had written tofor two exploded her father revealing her words to be: "Dad, I'm so heartbroken.