D&D 5E Hags - Something doesn't add up.

[Ruin Explorer]

I thought you meant "school" as in, "in between two schools of thought".

"In between two stools" isn't a figure of speech I've heard. But "in between two piles of dog poo" would have been poetic.

Man what? It's incredibly common idiom in English:

fall between two stools

1. If something falls between two stools, it fails to achieve either of two…

dictionary.cambridge.org

 

[Mind of tempest]

Man what? It's incredibly common idiom in English:

fall between two stools

1. If something falls between two stools, it fails to achieve either of two…

dictionary.cambridge.org

never heard of it before.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

never heard of it before.

Well now you have? I'm not sure what you're trying to say. If you were well-read in English or had spoken to a lot of diverse groups of English speakers you should have come across it sooner or later.

I'm reminded of the time a Scandi dude tried to correct an idiom I'd used, saying that you weren't allowed to phrase things like that in English. I can't remember what the idiom was sadly, but a bog-standard one. His English was perfect-seeming, but he was completely unfamiliar with real-world uses, and had basically only ever spoken to other Scandi people and some Europeans with that English, it turned out. Still had the boundless confidence required to correct actual native speakers, so points for that I guess.

(I can't say, sadly, that I've never seen a British person try to "correct" a French or Italian person on their own languages, because I have seen both happen... ohhhh the cringe.)

 

[Mind of tempest]

Well now you have? I'm not sure what you're trying to say. If you were well-read in English or had spoken to a lot of diverse groups of English speakers you should have come across it sooner or later.

I'm reminded of the time a Scandi dude tried to correct an idiom I'd used, saying that you weren't allowed to phrase things like that in English. I can't remember what the idiom was sadly, but a bog-standard one. His English was perfect-seeming, but he was completely unfamiliar with real-world uses, and had basically only ever spoken to other Scandi people and some Europeans with that English, it turned out. Still had the boundless confidence required to correct actual native speakers, so points for that I guess.

(I can't say, sadly, that I've never seen a British person try to "correct" a French or Italian person on their own languages, because I have seen both happen... ohhhh the cringe.)

look it seems a more a phrase from some area of the UK as I have never heard it in my part of it.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

look it seems a more a phrase from some area of the UK as I have never heard it in my part of it.

Where are you from? I ask because your odd capitalisation and grammar are suggestive of a non-native English speaker.

It's from at least 1390:

fall between two stools - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

I have no idea if it's more common in Britain, some phrases are, but it's certainly used by plenty of Americans and in plenty of books/newspapers/magazines/websites/etc.

 

[Voadam]

It's from at least 1390:

fall between two stools - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

I have no idea if it's more common in Britain, some phrases are, but it's certainly used by plenty of Americans and in plenty of books/newspapers/magazines/websites/etc.

I am American and I was a legal editor for over two decades. This thread was the first I had heard it too.

 

[Tonguez]

Where are you from? I ask because your odd capitalisation and grammar are suggestive of a non-native English speaker.

It's from at least 1390:

fall between two stools - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

I have no idea if it's more common in Britain, some phrases are, but it's certainly used by plenty of Americans and in plenty of books/newspapers/magazines/websites/etc.

Yep not an idiom I’m familiar with either. I wonder if it comes from South of London though ...

 

[jgsugden]

The phrase fall between two schools falls between two schools - It is neither well known enough that people are familiar with the meaning, nor is it clear enough that people can be certain of the meaning by context.

 

[Guest 6801328]

If you were well-read in English or had spoken to a lot of diverse groups of English speakers you should have come across it sooner or later.

Hehe. This is funny.

 

[dave2008]

Man what? It's incredibly common idiom in English:

fall between two stools

1. If something falls between two stools, it fails to achieve either of two…

dictionary.cambridge.org

I'm 47 and haven't heard it before, though the meaning is easy to figure. I asked my wife who was an english major, has two masters, and teaches HS and College literature and rhetoric classes and she hadn't heard of it before either.

She is extremely well read, but it is possible she has come across it before and didn't recognize it as an idiom.

PS - Love the idiom. I will personally start to use it now that I am familiar with it.