Jan 12 2009
From Bad to Worse: a saying in three ways
… this is the second entry in what I hope to be a sporadic yet long-running series exploring how differently or similarly a particular saying appears in English, Malay and French, and using that as a prompt to explore aspects of language, culture, etc.
The first time around, I looked at how these three languages tackled the dilemma of having to choose between two unpleasant options, and really liked how y’all enjoyed the article. Today, let’s look at a similar yet different scenario: how would you describe it when someone is already in a bad situation, then decides on a course of action that puts him in a worse spot?
 Hot Wins Originally uploaded by bhollar |
Since I think in English, this is the first thing that pops into my head: out of the frying pan and into the fire! Oh what a situation that would be, to jump from an already hot pan into the source of the pan’s heat! Ouch!
The French version would be tomber de Charybde en Scylla, meaning to fall from Charybdis to Scylla. Interestingly, the Charybdis / Scylla choice was already the origin of between a rock and a hard place, although there the person is looking at the two fearsome creatures of Greek myth and having to choose between them, while in today’s case, we meet the person as he escapes one only to find himself in the clutches of the other.
And finally there’s the Malay saying lepas dari mulut harimau, masuk ke mulut buaya, which is translated to escape from the tiger’s mouth, into the crocodile’s mouth. Some of you may think this might not depict a bad-to-worse situation, just a bad-to-just-as-bad one: after all, how would you know if finding yourself in the mouth of a crocodile is indeed worse than being in a tiger’s jaws?
 Crocodile Shows Originally uploaded by liewcf |
In Malay folklore, both the tiger and the crocodile have been bested many times by the wily mouse deer Sang Kancil (*), so no immediate clues there.
Where else does the crocodile appear in the cultural history of the country? First that pops into my head is the the legend of bujang senang, a notorious 19-foot crocodile that terrorized the tributaries of the great Batang Lupar River in Sarawak.
And just how does a crocodile get its prey? It lies in wait disguised as a log on a river bank, then clamps its powerful jaws down on you if you unwisely approach it, then drags you underwater only to mire you in thick mud or snag you in mangrove roots in order for you to drown, then breaks all the longer bones in your body before swallowing you whole! Or it might take a few bites out of you while fresh, then securely lodge you underwater to rot, where it then dines on you at its leisure.
Fun. Not!
 Malayan Tiger and Cub Originally uploaded by TXZeiss |
“Uncle Stripes” (Pak belang), on the other hand, appears on Malaysia’s Coat of Arms, and is regarded as a symbol of strength, power, courage.
I vaguely remember tales of people being stalked in the night by the eerie bright eyes of a tiger. I also remember that it’s not recommended to wait for durians to fall during the night, because you might just find yourself face-to-face with a tiger - they like the fruit too!
Reading up about these creatures turned up an interesting fact: tigers very rarely attack humans. Those that do are usually old, infirm or missing teeth. While that doesn’t mean tiger attacks are non-fatal — have you seen the size of their paws? You’d still be in for a good mauling! — it does give a glimmer of hope that escaping the clutches of a tiger is not impossible.
Ultimately, I look at it like this: a tiger usually hunts on land. A crocodile, on the other hand, is a creature of the water. With a tiger, we are still literally in our element, while a crocodile drags us into a different element all together.
So yeah, based on all of the above, I think finding yourself in a tiger’s jaws really is better than being in a crocodile’s! What say you?
* see the online samples of Aaron Shepard’s The Adventures of Mouse Deer: Tales of Indonesia and Malaysia for Sang Kancil’s encounters with the tiger and the crocodile.
Hmm, let’s see. You could be “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea”, does that count? Or you may say something is “neither use nor ornament”. Pah, I know these don’t count but I can’t think of any more right now.
PS. counter-Redditted
hindleyite: Thanks for the reddit plug! fyi, the focus of this post is “going from bad to worse”, while finding yourself “between the devil and the deep blue sea” was explored here. They are similar, but still quite different situations.
Lynne:
Thank you for participating in my first MEME! I enjoyed reading your blog and learning more about you. You’ve had some unique experiences as a tri-culturalist (I made that word up.
Here are your questions:
1. ) You said, “I am a wannabe writer.” Which genre(s) do you want to write in and why? What are your short and long term writing goals? Are you meeting them?
2.: Congratulations on graduating with honors in Chemistry. What attracted you to this field of study? How does being a chemist influence how you perceive the world around you?
3.) You said you “spent the most influential part of my life in the “anything goes United States.” Can you give examples of “anything goes” in the US that are different from your experiences in Malaysia and Switzerland?
4.) Are you fluent in English, Malay and French? Which language(s) do you think in? Which language(s) do you dream in?
5.) You said: “Malaysian children attend 210 days of school a year. Swiss kids go to school 191 days a year. Americans get only 180 days in school.” What conclusions do you draw from those number?
Please let me know when you have posted your answers.
Roxie
Recovery Rocks!
http://recoveryrocks.today.com
note: I posted your questions here and on my blog.
All I have to say is that croc is a scaring looking thing.
I like the logic behind the tiger and the crocodile. And the Mouse Deer tales are excellent! (As a side note, I looked down at the third sample chapter; trickster vs. sticky-scarecrow-thing is a popular story across cultures, isn’t it?)
An interesting blog
Reminds me of the African Anansi the spider but I can’t think of a correlation of “from bad to worse”. 
I love reading your comparison of these sayings.
Roxie: Great questions! I’ve scheduled my response for the 15th Jan.. I’ll drop you a line at the original post once it’s published
Jo: I totally agree!
Ravyn: someone just threw a golem in the gears of my argument.. keep an eye out tomorrow when I elaborate on it
Choopixie: I kinda know of Anansi via Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Anansi Boys books. He’s a trickster too, right?
kruel: Yeah, there’s something about drowning and being nibbled on that just doesn’t quite appeal to me…
lina: thanks! Hey, if you have any unusual Malay sayings you’d like to see me explore in this manner, please drop me a line/comment! I’d love some ideas
The debate in Australia is between crocodiles and sharks! Yes the same crocodiles live in Australia - in fact they are a protected species here - its not reciprocal though -the crocodiles don’t protect humans!
Wow, I never thought about that saying before to that depth! How neat that you shared similar expressions from other languages.
Reg: thanks for bringing that up! If I’m not mistaken, their muscles to clamp down are extremely powerful, so yeah, that certainly makes escaping the crocodile’s jaws a lot more difficult! Surprisingly, the muscles to open the jaws wide are very weak, which is why if you are able to put something around the snout to close the mouth, it doesn’t need to be extra-strength rope or anything… even duct (duck?) tape will do!
Lis: both are water-based animals, so falling into their hands jaws wouldn’t be anything I’d want to do
I am just a little bit freaked by the idea of a watery death!
caregivingdaughter: I’m glad you like! I really like languages, and I hope that by my playing with these sayings, I can encourage others to feel the same