Definition: Stuck between two awful choices; having two poor alternatives.
Origin: This expression has existed since at least the 1600s. This expression doesn’t have to do with the devil of the Bible but to a seam around a ship’s hull near the water.
When a sailor attempted to caulk this seam in heavy seas, he was in serious danger of failing overboard and drowning. Of course, if he didn’t caulk the seam, the ship could fill with water and sink. In other words, the sailor was faced with two awful choices: risk his life to repair the ship or risk the entire ship by not repairing the ship.
Example： “It is a high meeting place of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Europe and Africa, sanctity and sin, where men and women have long set out to find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. – New York Times
I still remember the very first time when I saw the ocean.
It was during the summer break of my second University year, I went to 北戴河 with a group of fellow students. The moment when my eyes met the ocean, I froze and everything else disappeared ... ...
I felt power, energy, peace all at the same time, and I can never be lonely when at the ocean.
I do understand the meaning of "between a rock and hard place", but if I was asked to choose between “the devil and the deep blue sea”, I would happily jump into the blue sea without a second thought!
Wish you all a happy Wednesday at the end of a hot summer.
ps. I took this sunset photo in 2009 (with my 1st digital point & shoot camera), at Long Beach in Tofino, the largest and longest beach in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on 最西边的岛上
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Definition:
Stuck between two awful choices; having two poor alternatives.
Origin:
This expression has existed since at least the 1600s. This expression doesn’t have to do with the devil of the Bible but to a seam around a ship’s hull near the water.
When a sailor attempted to caulk this seam in heavy seas, he was in serious danger of failing overboard and drowning. Of course, if he didn’t caulk the seam, the ship could fill with water and sink. In other words, the sailor was faced with two awful choices: risk his life to repair the ship or risk the entire ship by not repairing the ship.
Example：
“It is a high meeting place of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Europe and Africa, sanctity and sin, where men and women have long set out to find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. – New York Times
- https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea# with editing
---------------------------------------------------
I still remember the very first time when I saw the ocean.
It was during the summer break of my second University year, I went to 北戴河 with a group of fellow students. The moment when my eyes met the ocean, I froze and everything else disappeared ... ...
I felt power, energy, peace all at the same time, and I can never be lonely when at the ocean.
I do understand the meaning of "between a rock and hard place", but if I was asked to choose between “the devil and the deep blue sea”, I would happily jump into the blue sea without a second thought!
Wish you all a happy Wednesday at the end of a hot summer.
ps. I took this sunset photo in 2009 (with my 1st digital point & shoot camera), at Long Beach in Tofino, the largest and longest beach in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on 最西边的岛上