In this mini episode, you will learn the useful expression “between a rock and a hard place.”
Episode 401 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful expression “between a rock and a hard place.” Send your questions about English and your comments and suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hi, everyone. This is XiaoChun, from China. You’re listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 401 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you an interesting expression.
The expression is “between a rock and a hard place.” Between a rock and a hard place. That’s between, a, rock, r-o-c-k, and, a, hard, h-a-r-d, place, p-l-a-c-e. Between a rock and a hard place.
What does this expression mean? What does it mean to say, “Between a rock and a hard place”?
If you describe somebody as between a rock and a hard place, you are saying that they are in a difficult or impossible situation. They are in a situation with no good solution. It’s similar to being in a dilemma. In other words, being in a situation with no good solution. No matter what you do, you are still in the same problem. There’s no good solution. No matter what you do, you are still in trouble. You are still in this bad situation.
Why does this expression mean this? Why do we say, “Between a rock and a hard place” when we want to say that someone is in a situation with no solution, or no simple solution?
I think this expression started out as being kind of funny. I think it was supposed to sound almost like a joke. Because it is saying that you are between two things: on one side is a rock, a big rock. On the other side is a hard place. Well, those are really the same thing. So I think it started as kind of a funny way of saying you are between two big rocks. Either way you turn, you are still facing a big rock. You are stuck between two big rocks that will not move.
But instead of saying “between two rocks”—that would make sense—instead of that, we say “between a rock and a hard place.”
How do we use this expression? I think that is simple.
We just say that somebody is between a rock and a hard place.
I could say, “I was between a rock and a hard place.” Or I could say, “And when that happened, they were between a rock and a hard place.” Or I could say, “The person who was in that situation was between a rock and a hard place.”
If you are ever in a situation that seems to have no solution—no matter what you do, you are still in trouble, you are still in the middle of your problem or your difficult situation—you can say that you are between a rock and a hard place.
And that is “between a rock and a hard place,” an interesting, colorful, and useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 401 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way XiaoChun recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode. And until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!