APAD:Out of the frying pan into the fire

Out of the frying pan into the fire

This proverb describes a situation where a person moves from one difficult or dangerous situation into another that is even worse; often as the result of trying to escape from the bad or difficult one. It was the subject of a 15th-century fable that eventually entered the Aesopic canon.

The proverb and several similar European proverbs ultimately derive from a Greek saying about running from the smoke or the fire into the flame, the first recorded use of which was in a poem by Germanicus Caesar (15 BCE – 19 CE) in the Greek Anthology.

The Italian author Laurentius Abstemius wrote a collection of 100 fables, the Hecatomythium, during the 1490s.  Abstemius' fable 20, De piscibus e sartigine in prunas desilentibus, concerns some fish thrown live into a frying pan of boiling fat. One of them urges its fellows to save their lives by jumping out, but when they do so they fall into the burning coals and curse its bad advice. The fabulist concludes: 'This fable warns us that when we are avoiding present dangers, we should not fall into even worse peril.'

The tale was included in Latin collections of Aesop's fables from the following century onwards but the first person to adapt it into English was Roger L'Estrange in 1692.

 

所有跟帖: 

Haha, one of the 1st few E phrases I learned ;-) & people r -最西边的岛上- 给 最西边的岛上 发送悄悄话 最西边的岛上 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 03:49:30

bloody reality -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:24:19

出得龙潭,又如入虎穴?It seems worse to enter fire. -硅谷居士- 给 硅谷居士 发送悄悄话 硅谷居士 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 06:44:24

先油炸,后烧烤, -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:23:21

Exactly how it felt sparring with my bjj instructors:-) -7grizzly- 给 7grizzly 发送悄悄话 7grizzly 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:24:02

Wait till you stand in the boxing ring -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:29:24

才出狼窝,又入虎穴 -暖冬cool夏- 给 暖冬cool夏 发送悄悄话 暖冬cool夏 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:28:34

最好带条大狗一起去 :-)) -最西边的岛上- 给 最西边的岛上 发送悄悄话 最西边的岛上 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:29:38

feed the tiger spare oneself? -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:30:56

tiger suffocate prey 1st, wolf eat live, which 1 worse? -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 15:19:40

A guy went to see a doctor -永远老李- 给 永远老李 发送悄悄话 (653 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 08:46:51

When it rains, it pours -妖妖灵- 给 妖妖灵 发送悄悄话 妖妖灵 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 09:03:39

It rains cats & dogs -移花接木- 给 移花接木 发送悄悄话 移花接木 的博客首页 (0 bytes) () 02/26/2025 postreply 14:14:40

请您先登陆,再发跟帖!