Ser el hazmerreír
To be the laughingstock.
to be the laughingstock; **to be the laughingstock**; **to be the butt of everyone's jokes**; **to become a figure of ridicule**; **to make oneself look ridiculous**
Ser el hazmerreír means to be the laughingstock, to be a laughing stock, to become the butt of everyone's jokes, or to be ridiculed by everyone.
Después del escándalo se convirtió en el hazmerreír del pueblo.
After the scandal, he became the laughingstock of the town.
No quiero ser el hazmerreír de la oficina.
I don't want to become the laughingstock of the office.
Acabó siendo el hazmerreír de toda la clase.
He ended up being the butt of everyone's jokes in the class.
Sus errores lo convirtieron en el hazmerreír de las redes sociales.
His mistakes made him the laughingstock of social media.
It describes someone whose mistakes, behaviour or circumstances provoke widespread mockery.
- becomes the object of public ridicule
- embarrasses themselves repeatedly
- is mocked by others
- loses credibility after a mistake
- is constantly joked about
The word hazmerreír is a compound noun formed from the old imperative haz ("make") and the infinitive reír ("to laugh").
Literally, it means "make people laugh."
Over time, it came to refer not to someone who intentionally entertains others but to someone who unintentionally provokes laughter through ridicule or embarrassment.
The compound has existed in Spanish for several centuries.
The expression often carries a strong emotional impact.
Being el hazmerreír implies not merely that people laugh, but that a person's reputation has suffered because they have become a frequent target of mockery.
It is commonly used in discussions about politics, scandals, sport and social situations.
Spanish distinguishes between making people laugh and being laughed at much more clearly than many learners realise:
- Hacer reír → to make people laugh.
- Ser el hazmerreír → to be the laughingstock.
- Quedar en ridículo → to make a fool of oneself.
- Hacer el ridículo → to make a fool of oneself publicly.
Among them, ser el hazmerreír is the strongest because it implies that ridicule has become widespread and that many people now see the person as an object of mockery.
This idiom has an almost perfect English equivalent.
The best translations are:
- to be the laughingstock
- to become the laughingstock
- to be the butt of everyone's jokes
Avoid weaker translations such as people laugh at him, since they fail to capture the idea of public ridicule.
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