Quid pro quo
Quid pro quo (From the Latin meaning "something for something")[1] indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favor for a favor" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "what for what," "give and take," "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours".
Legal usage
In legal usage, quid pro quo indicates that an item or a service has been traded in return for something of value, usually when the propriety or equity of the transaction is in question. For example, under the common law (except in Scotland[citation needed]), a binding contract must involve consideration: that is, the exchange of something of value for something else of economic value. If the exchange appears excessively one sided, courts in some jurisdictions may question whether a quid pro quo did actually exist and the contract may be void by law.[2]
Similarly, political donors are legally entitled to support candidates that hold positions with which the donors agree, or which will benefit the donors. Such conduct becomes bribery only when there is an identifiable exchange between the contribution and official acts, previous or subsequent, and the term quid pro quo denotes such an exchange. The term may also be used to describe blackmail, where a person offers to refrain from some harmful conduct in return for valuable consideration.
Quid pro quo harassment occurs when employment or academic decisions or expectations (hiring, promotions, salary increases, shift or work assignments, performance standards, grades, access to recommendations, assistance with school work, etc.) are based on an employee or student's submission to or rejection of sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other behavior of a sexual nature. These cases involve tangible actions that adversely affect either the conditions of work or academic progress.
Other meanings
Quid pro quo may less commonly refer to something (originally a medicine) given or used in place of another.
Quid pro quo may sometimes be used to define a misunderstanding or blunder made by the substituting of one thing for another, particularly in the context of the transcribing of a text.[3] In this alternate context, the phrase qui pro quo is more correct(see below).
Quid pro quo may sometimes be described as the idiom,"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". In legislative contexts, it may take the form of vote trading. It may also describe the reverse situation, for example when a donor expects something in return later.
Quid Pro Quo was an Internet server package for Classic MacOS.
The word Quid is a British slang term for a unit/units of the currency Pound Sterling (e.g., Twenty Pounds/ Twenty Quid) and is believed to come from the phrase Quid pro quo, referring to currency as a means of exchange.
Most commonly used by the Obama Administration as illegal offers to primary election candidates. (Criminal)==Related phrases== The phrase qui pro quo, or quiproquo (from medieval Latin: literally qui instead of quo) is common in languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and French, where it means a misunderstanding.[4]
In those languages, the phrase corresponding to the usage of quid pro quo in English is do ut des (Latin for "I give so that you may give").
See also
Notes
- ^ Merriam-Webster, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Fourth Edition), and the New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (Third Edition)[1] all so define the Latin expression.
- ^ One such example is "section 2-302 of the [[Uniform Commercial Code]]".
{{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help) - ^ "Blunder made by using or putting one thing for another (now rare)" – Concise Oxford Dictionary, 4th edition, 1950.
- ^ Qui pro quo used to refer to a copying mistake made by a scribe, qui being the nominative case and quo the ablative case of the same personal pronoun. Further information may be found in the AWADmail Issue 49.