Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla and Charybdis

Two equally unpleasant, dangerous, or risky alternatives, where the avoidance of one ensures encountering the harm of the other. Refers to the Greek mythological sea beasts Scylla and Charybdis, which inhabited a sea passage so narrow as to ensure a ship would be forced into the grasp of one or the other. I was between Scylla and Charybdis, for if I didn't take out another loan—and go deeper into debt—I could not pay off the debts I already owed. The police knew with certainty he had drugs in his car, so he became trapped between Scylla and Charybdis: either lie to the police, or admit that the drugs belonged to him.
See also: and, Charybdis, Scylla
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Scylla and Charybdis

used to refer to a situation involving two dangers in which an attempt to avoid one increases the risk from the other. literary
In classical mythology, Scylla was a female sea monster who devoured sailors when they tried to navigate the narrow channel between her and the whirlpool Charybdis. In later legends, Scylla was a dangerous rock, located on the Italian side of the Strait of Messina, a channel which separates the island of Sicily from the ‘toe’ of Italy.
See also: and, Charybdis, Scylla
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

between Scylla and Charybdis

A choice between two evils. In Homer’s Odyssey (ca. 850 b.c.) the hero must sail a narrow passage between Scylla, a monster on a rock, and Charybdis, a fatal whirlpool. If he avoids one evil, he must run into the other. This situation was repeated figuratively by writers from Virgil to Shaw (Pygmalion, 1912: “It’s a choice between the Skilly of the workhouse and Char Bydis of the middle class”).
See also: and, between, Charybdis, Scylla
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • between Scylla and Charybdis
  • between the devil and the deep blue sea
  • between the hammer and the anvil
  • devil and deep blue sea
  • Scylla
  • between a rock and a hard place
  • Charybdis
  • skunk at a garden party
  • come to a bad end
  • come to a bad/sticky end
References in periodicals archive
(28) Although Alfred Heubeck and Arie Hoekstra note, in their commentary on Book 12, the correspondence between Scylla's rock and Charybdis's fig tree, (29) there has been no extensive attempt to locate the tree within a larger reading of the relationship between Scylla and Charybdis. (30) In her narratological commentary, Irene De Jong points out only that the fig tree is a "seed," looking forward to a later point in the narrative when Odysseus will use the tree as a means for salvation.
Down through the gaping hole - and up the fig tree
One of resourceful Odyssey's obstacles on his way back home to Ithaca was the legendary monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Odyssey had two options but, in reality, only one: disaster.
Alexis Tsipras: trapped and secluded
In this case, Scylla and Charybdis take the form of:
Disruptive innovation VS. the hedgehog
*"Scylla and Charybdis,'' 2-3:30 p.m.: Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem St.
Bloomsday tradition brings tales of brave 'Ulysses'
We know officials often feel as if they walk the tightrope of fair and impartial processes, strung between the Scylla and Charybdis of the Clery Act and Title IX, bound by FERPA and challenged by the media.
Title IX: responding to sexual harassment and violence incidents: confronting these emotionally laden, incendiary events requires an even-handed and fearless approach
This leg of the trip includes a visit to the creepy King Aeolus and his court controlled by the winds, a narrow escape from horrific man-eating creatures, months with the enchantress Circe, a trip to Hades to consult the seer Tiresias and a terrifying trip between Scylla and Charybdis that nearly finishes off the crew.
Cursed by the Sea God (Odyssey of a Slave: Book II)
The Armenian National Congress has found itself between Scylla and Charybdis: if it nominates its own candidate
Representative of RPA: ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Armenian National Congress will not allow Raffi Hovannisian to obtain opposition electorate's votes
Shortly before he died, Tyrrell published another collection entitled Through Scylla and Charybdis or the Old Theology and the New, attempting to show how he had tried to avoid the errors of both "Scylla" (the confusion of theology with revelation) and "Charybdis" ("the whirlpool of progress" that had sucked into its vortex so much of the Liberal theology of the 19th century).
From the editor's desk
Scylla and Charybdis, Heloise and Abelard, the gusting breeze and
Adding a Certain Ghostlike Hum to Your Inner Life
This author's lucid, engaging, and humane book navigates the Scylla and Charybdis menacing Samuel Johnson's biographers.
Samuel Johnson: A Biography
Defining the main risk between Scylla and Charybdis is never easy.
Thinking "out side the box" on economic policy
Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida,<br /> "Referring to Greek mythology, the BoE finds itself trying to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis. They are trying to avoid the downward pull of the whirlpool of the EU/Greek crisis, its own lackluster recovery and potential for a double-dip recession while riding perilously close to the monster of a sustained inflationary episode."
Bank of England Unlikely To Raise Rates This Week
Of course, any president of this tiny, fatefully located nation will find himself (or one day, inshallah, herself) between the proverbial Scylla and Charybdis; some heads of this state have splayed themselves at the feet of the US, while others have joyfully played the Syrians' game.
Sleiman: Playing by the book
Scylla and Charybdis of the title are monsters of Greek mythology.
The Scylla and Charybdis of Strategic Leadership
On the other hand, Pakistan was between Scylla and Charybdis whether to stand with the Taliban or support America which was supposed to be its product.
The Balochistan Times, Quetta