Does the sentence "You are trying to partition the blame" make sense?

To partion is to divide into parts, which is what you wanted to do.

They should not try to shift the blame onto you. You want to share the blame.

I have never heard the word partition used in this context but maybe it’s used this way in some regions? What you probably want to say is that you should share the blame.

I think he meant that you should both “share” the blame.

Partition, was erudite vocabulary in this context, however I thought it fitting as the other was not willing to share the blame @gailcalled, @downtide

Sounds off, I’d use ‘shift’ for clarity but by definition it’s correct.

To me as a reader or listener, partition is so erudite as make no sense. You cannot partition an abstraction, such as blame or joy.

Here are the traditional uses of partition as a verb.

1) divide into parts: an agreement was reached to partition the country.

2) divide (a room) into smaller rooms or areas by erecting partitions: the hall was partitioned to contain the noise of the computers.

3) (partition something off) separate a part of a room from the rest by erecting a partition: partition off part of a large bedroom to create a small bathroom.

It’s not erudite (characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly) at all. It’s an incorrect usage. To partition something involves a separator, a wall or boundary—what we call a partition, in fact. As Gail says, you can’t divide something abstract in that way.

You might talk about dividing the blame, but not partitioning it.

To partition.

The homonym (or nearly-homonym) that you’re looking for is “apportion”. You’re attempting to apportion the blame by determining who shares what part of the fault.

I think @CWOTUS has it.

I don’t see why one can’t divide abstractions like blame or joy, linguistically at least.

Anyway, I think this particular instance is a mistake for apportion.

@morphail, I don’t think so, unless when you say that you and I share a joy, you mean that we each have only half of it. We don’t separate the joy into parts. That isn’t what we mean when we say “We hope you’ll share our joy at the wedding of our daughter.” It’s not like sharing a pizza.

In any case, I notice that you used divide in that way (and I do think you can divide blame; just ask an insurance company), rather than partition.

Thank you all for your comments. It looks like there is a mixture of opinions.

@CWOTUS I agree that ‘to apportion’ probably would have been better to use.

In my mind I was not refering directly to the individual, but to them as a representative of their department. We both work for the same company but in different departments. Would that make a difference? Maybe.

@morphail http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/partition This link suggests that Partition is a transitive verb and can be used in the following, ’partition work to make it easier.’

Yeah, apportion is what you’re looking for, partition just sounds ridiculous.