hacer bulto/hacerse menso

[poli]

Can you use hacerse bulto, to mean to get in the way of things, or is the reflexive not used in this case. I am a little confused by the inconsistency of the two terms, because I have found Spanish to be rather consistent in these types of rules.
Also, do you know other common terms used with hacer(se) followed by a noun.

[aleCcowaN]

Though menso is a Mexican use, I would understand hacerse el menso as "feigning to be a fool".

Hacer bulto in Argentina is a colloquial way to say you asked people to come to a venue or ask the people there to get together in front of the cameras just for the sake of the place not to look so empty or the event not to look as a failure.

I think there are lots of expressions, collocations and uses following the structures

hacer (noun)
hacer (definite article) (noun)
hacer (indefinite article) (noun)
hacerse (noun)
hacerse (definite article) (noun)
hacerse (indefinite article) (noun)

Scores of localisms and colloquialisms come to mind. Let's see if I find more universal terms

hacer olas = to make waves
hacer las paces = to bury the hatchet
hacer un escándalo = to make a fuss
hacerse malasangre = to become exceedingly upset, worried or anguished (about something)
hacerse la rabona = fail to assist to a place we're obliged to, especially to cut classes
hacerse el sueco = to pretend not to understand the conversation
hacerse una galleta = to cause traffic to become jammed or a piece of thread to become tangled

[poli]

Thanks Alec. I remember hacer el ridículo also. I just have trouble remembering which ones use then reflexive. The English to make a fool of oneself, is certainly reflexive, but not in Spanish.

[aleCcowaN]

I think "to make a fool of oneself" better translates into "quedar como un idiota", with quedar, that chameleon of a verb, not easy for English speakers.

"Hacer el ridículo" is more like unadvertently lend oneself to be the star in a play of the Grotesque genre.

Yet both phrases usually translates into one another because English culture seems to be more centred in reputation and Spanish culture more centred in aestetics (not beauty but the results of the act of doing, as opposed to ethics, the reason to do it).

[aleCcowaN]

I was thinking whether there's a way to know when to use hacer and hacerse and it looks like you may use both in many cases.

Feigning or impersonating require the pronominal use, as in "hacerse el tonto". But enacting "the part" doesn't, like in "hacer de tonto".

About examples of common expressions, there are so many and varied! For instance

hacerse humo (to run away -a person- or to vanish -a fortune-)
hacer aire (to be windy -weather-/to fan, to ventilate/ to clear out the space surrounding a person experiencing difficult breathing)
hacer agua (the result of a breach in the hull)
hacer aguas (to urinate; polite way similar to "nature calls" but a little more explicit)

[poli]

OK, so hacerse un tonto is to make like you're a fool in English. You play (desempeñar el papel de)the fool means the same thing. However, that fool can be played means something quite different. It means something like, aquel tonto puede estar etafado facilmente.

[aleCcowaN]

aquel tonto puede ser estafado con facilidad (=fácilmente) implies a legitimate, full-fledged tonto, un tonto fácil de engatusar, that is, easily deceived by flattery or snow jobs; while hacerse el tonto or hacer de tonto implies a probable clever or cunning person playing the character.

[poli]

Oh. Thanks for clarifying that.
Can hacer bulto also mean to get in the way of? That's the way I have heard it.

[aleCcowaN]

According to Webreference, it does. It gives the additional meaning of "to be in the way". I may use it that way to describe something that takes up space without having any useful purpose or intrinsic value, for instance, a piece of furniture or boxes full of junk that only clutter the room.

I'd never use it to describe build-ups of people in halls and corridors or vehicles in the street. They aren't haciendo bulto.

Sit fillers are used in the Oscars para hacer bulto.

Creationist extraordinaire James Tour invited the people of his church to his debate with Professor Dave para hacer bulto y para que le sirvieran de claque y le festejaran sus mojigangas.

Le pedí a mis amigos que se juntaran e hicieran un poco de bulto para tomar una foto y que el lugar no pareciera tan vacío como lo estaba.