Englishbetween the devil and the deep blue sea
Meaning: Facing two difficult outcomes for the same situation.
Example: “If he tells the truth he loses his job, and if he lies he loses his friend; he's between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
Origin: First recorded in Robert Monro's 1637 military memoir, describing his position in battle as being "betwixt the devill and the deep sea." A popular nautical theory holds that "the devil" was sailors' slang for a seam running along a ship's hull near the waterline, and caulking it in rough seas put a sailor at real risk of being pitched overboard — trapped between a difficult task and a genuinely fatal drop. The Latin phrasing early users of the idiom reached for instead points a different way: a choice between damnation (the devil) and drowning (the sea), echoing an even older Roman image from Plautus of being caught between the sacrificial altar and the stone used to perform it — no matter which way you turn, real danger.
More English idioms
- in hot water In trouble.
- kill two birds with one stone To accomplish two objectives with one action.
- leave no stone unturned To search everywhere.
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- move heaven and earth To try very hard to do something.
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