Mexican Stand Off

Posted by Serdar Rifat on August 17, 2000

There is nothing derogatory about this expression.
It simply means a stand off where the first to act will lose. In the film 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', we see a perfect example, where the three gun fighters stand in a triangle facing each other. Each one reluctant to draw first, because the first to draw runs the risk of being shoot by the guy he does not aim for; hence the first to act will lose (or in this case, die!)