A Question about English Idioms

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In Chinese, we have an idiom which describe a behavior that if a person was bitten by a poison snake in the hand, the person has a strong determination to cut off his wrist within seconds. Because if he don't do that, he eventually will die.
So in English, do we have similar idioms? anything involves wrist like that? or if I just say somebody has to cut off his owns wrist with little or no contexts, can a native English speaker understand me?
Thanks!

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View best answer, chosen by remington318

@remington318,

Quote:

if I just say somebody has to cut off his owns wrist with little or no contexts, can a native English speaker understand me?

Naw, probably not. There's probably a number of expressions which contain the same sentiments, but I can't think of one offhand. Perhaps something like:

Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.

"A stitch in time saves nine" (more stitches) is not indicative of any dire situation, but might be similar in the sense of taking quick, necessary action to avoid worse consequences if you don't.

1 Reply

Being caught between the deep blue sea and the devil.

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@remington318,

One that rushes to mind: Cutting off the nose to spite the face

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=cut+off+his+x+to+save+his+y

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@dalehileman,

Oh for goodness sake, Dale.

1 Reply

@remington318,

England (where the language comes from) has no poisonous snakes or insects, so we've never developed an idiom for that.

How abot "to grasp the nettle"? That means, to take decisive action on an unpleasant task.
Nettles are a stinging plant, whose sting leaves a rash. But you can handle them, and receive fewer stings, if you're decisive about it.

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@McTag,

Quote:

How abot "to grasp the nettle"?

Don't run around sayin that in the USA, though. Aint nobody ever heard of it.

A similar expression the the US might be to "bite the bullet."

Before anesthesia was available, before a guy was about to be "operated on," he would stick a bullet between his teeth to clamp down on and thereby avoid the distraction of excruciating screams of pain.

Of course ya would always drink about a fifth of hard liquor first, too.

Example: I have no choice but to bite the bullet (and let it happen).

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@saab,

Quote:

between the deep blue sea and the devil

Usually reversed in BrE

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@remington318,

Quote:

...a person was bitten by a poison snake in the hand, the person has a strong determination to cut off his wrist within seconds.

A guy would definitely have to bite the bullet first, that's for sure.

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Time to cut the deadwood out...

1 Reply

@timur,

time to git choppin...
time to separate the wheat from the chafe...
cream always rises to the top...
I like peanut butter, I like toast and jam...

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin about.

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@saab,

This is not good. your example is two unacceptable options which are both bad.

My idiom was asking about to make a quick and painful scarification in order to save the most important one.

Thank you though.

1 Reply

@layman,

do you have something like cut one's arm or leg?

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@remington318,

Quote:

do you have something like cut one's arm or leg?

Maybe, but if so, I can't think of it right now.

We have a saying that's goes something like: " And let the devil take the hindmost."

This is sometimes used when you put yourself (say that's the hand) in danger or sacrifice yourself for the tribe (say that's the body). Like if I'm charging into the teeth of an enemy army, I may say that.

But it really just means something like: to hell with what happens. Whoever comes out worse will be the loser.

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

this one is not a good neither.

"Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger.[1]

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@remington318,

Your OP describes two bad things - one is dying of snake bite, the other is cutting off a body part. Both are considered very bad choices.

The person with those two choices would be between a rock and a hard place.

___

saab's suggestion was quite good, given the OP.

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@remington318,

no.

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@remington318,

remington318 wrote:

if I just say somebody has to cut off his owns wrist with little or no contexts, can a native English speaker understand me?

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@ehBeth,

But the OP added this. That's his distinction:

Quote:

the person has a strong determination to cut off his wrist within seconds.

Often the devil/sea dilemma just indicates that you're indecisive. That's why I didn't think "choosing the lesser of two evils" fit.

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@McTag,

Quote:

Oh for goodness sake, Dale

Oh but Mac, why
I thought it fit very nicely

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A Question about English Idioms

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