4 ms·
It breaks the analogy, though. When you have the devil to pay, adjusting your sails won't do any good. Pirates or not.
by KC8ZKF 17y ago
It breaks the analogy, though. When you have the devil to pay, adjusting your sails won't do any good. Pirates or not.
- skolor 17y agoI believe that was a pun. "Adjust your sales".
- KC8ZKF 17y agoI understand the pun. It still breaks the analogy.
- anigbrowl 17y agoFYI, the phrase originates from the difficulty and danger of carrying out certain adjustments on a sailing ship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_Devil_and_the_Deep_Blue_Sea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_Devil_and_the_Deep_... - it's not about having the Devil to pay, but what you risk if you don't get the job of adjusting your 'sails' done.
- KC8ZKF 17y agoThose certain adjustments are "paying the devil." The "devil" being the gap between the main deck and the hull; "paying" being filling with pitch. When you are doing that, you are hanging over the side, "between the devil and the deep blue sea." When you are between the devil and the deep blue sea, paying the devil, the sails are down. Adjusting sails has nothing to do with it.
- anigbrowl 17y agoah, I see. +1!