So I am struggling with this sentence, and was wondering if I have interpreted
the idiom correctly?

I have found that 尻馬に乗る means 'to follow suit', 'to follow the lead of others'
or 'A fool laughs when others laugh'.

However, in this sentence, it is paired with 大災厄の尻馬に乗って

> すでに起こってしまった大災厄の尻馬に乗って人間たちを嘲笑いに出かけるという先生のやり口は、じつにぶざまに思われた。

Does this instead mean 'to take advantage of'?

> The way Sensei exploited the great disaster that had already befallen the
> area in order to ridicule the humans, I thought, was truly terrible.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-25T20:48:36.680
62417
2018-10-26T06:51:27.213
question
translation idioms literature
尻馬に乗る Have I understood this idiom correctly?
I never see 尻馬に乗る to something. I only see 尻馬に乗る to somebody or at least an
opinion of somebody. And it means "quick to follow others blindly", as you
mentioned.

So, 大災厄の尻馬に乗る does not make sense to me at least without context. I think
尻馬に乗る does not have a meaning "taking advantage of", but at least I agree your
interpretation fits the context.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-26T06:51:27.213
62431
2018-10-26T06:51:27.213
31716
62417
answer