Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 558. The idiom today is between the devil and the deep
blue sea. Okay. If somebody wants a screenshot , do it right now. Let's get right to it.
If a person says that someone is between the devil and the deep blue sea,
it means that he or she is faced with two equally dangerous or risky alternatives
or choices, especially one in which to avoid one will guarantee that one encounters the harm of
the other. Okay. Let's continue. It is similar to the phrase to be caught between a rock and a
hard place which I did a YouTube video on a long time ago. If you wanted to check out that one.
This expression is believed to derive from a nautical origin, not a religious one. In
this phrase the Devil refers to the seam of a ship's hull or perhaps a plank that was risky
to work from or risky to reach. Thus, a sailor had the duty of making the part of the boat
waterproof or that part of the boat waterproof and was often in an unsafe position and risked
falling. And he could end up drowning in the deep blue sea. So I think there's a consensus that most
people think it comes from this. All right. Let's continue. There are some others who say
it may have referred to the exodus of the Hebrews escaping from Egypt caught between the devil,
the Egyptian soldiers chasing them. Remember after the king said you could go and then he
changed his mind and sent the soldiers out to go get them and the Hebrews came to the sea
where they couldn't cross the sea. So they would be between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Even though ... even though of course we know with the Bible story Moses was able to separate
the water and the Jews were able to go through and the Egyptians ended up getting drowned
in the Bible story. All right. Let's continue. And we got three examples to show just how this
is used. Here's the first one. The government is caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea.
They are already so far in debt it is impossible to ever pay it off , but if they don't borrow
more, they won't be able to run the government and it will collapse. But when they borrow more
it makes it even more impossible to ever pay it off. Okay. So that's one example.
Number two. The fugitives were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
They were trapped between jumping off a cliff into a stream and risking death and injury or being
caught by the authorities chasing close behind them. Yeah. There's a few movies where I've seen
scenes like this. I think one was like the old cowboy movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
I think they were being chased by the Mexican army and they came to a cliff and you know,
one of them said. We have to jump and he said oh no we could fight him often and then you found
out i think it was the Sundance Kid one played by Robert Redford. He said he couldn't swim.
So he said we still got to do it you know because we we're way outnumbered there. So
we have to risk jumping off and and you know jumping into this stream that's going down. And
of course in the movie they did and they got away. And then there was the movie "The Fugitive" with
with Harrison Ford. He was a doctor. He was accused murder and he was almost caught again
and then he he practically has to jump into a waterfall. You know, the police caught right
up to him they were right behind him they were going to get him. His only choice was jumping
in the waterfall and of course the policeman was not going to follow and jump in the waterfall too.
And in both cases in the movies they live. In real life I'm not so sure but in the movies they did.
But you could say they were caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea. You could use this
example here. And here's our last example. The ex-Beetle, George Harrison had a song called
"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. "Here are some lyrics and this is the way it went. "I
don't want you, but I hate to lose you. You got me between the Devil and the deep blue sea. " Okay "I
forgive you because I can't forget you. You got me between the devil and the deep blue
sea. " So you could ponder that and see what you know, kind of a dilemma. Well it's kind of
a situation he was in. Where he felt you know, hurt or harmed both ways. Anyway. I hope you
got it. I hope it's clear. I hope it was very informative. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.