To carry the weight of the responsibility

[poli]

I carry the weight of the responsibility on my shoulders
I read today (paraphrasing) sobre mis espaldas recae el grueso de la responsibilidad.

Is this the common usage, or is the writer using his personal licence in the choice of el grueso and recaer? As a non-native I would never think of using grueso in this case.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Yes, it's common; almost a collocation.

el grueso (notice it's a noun) = la mayor parte

[poli]

Thanks,

I think recaer is used here idiomatically, because yo me, it's commonly used to mean to relapse. It's perfectly easy to understand in this context, but I as a nonnative would never have though of using it, choosing perhaps
caerse instead. Would that sound wrong?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Caer", instead of "caerse": "La responsabilidad cae sobre mí."

And very dramatically said: "cargo/llevo sobre mis hombros/espaldas la responsabilidad"


Also, "reposa"/"descansa", but here with the nuance that it's not a burden.

[Ivy2937]

Originally Posted by poli

I carry the weight of the responsibility on my shoulders
I read today (paraphrasing) sobre mis espaldas recae el grueso de la responsibilidad.

Is this the common usage, or is the writer using his personal licence in the choice of el grueso and recaer? As a non-native I would never think of using grueso in this case.

These are figurative meanings:

grueso =in this sense is the major part of the burden

Sobre mis hombros llevo el peso de la responsabilidad de la casa/company/presidency
Sobre mis espaldas ... It is a kind of complaining and it is painful the burden.