[Idiom] What's the difference between "be caught between two stools" and...

[Fotogênicas Brasil]

Hi guys! This is my question: What's the difference between "be caught between two stools" and "fall between two stools"?

I think there is a slightly different meaning of them or isn't there?

 

[Mrfatso]

Not A Teacher

For me there is no difference between them.

 

[Skrej]

Just a note to other learners, this idiom doesn't exist in AmE. The dictionary lists it as "chiefly British".

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard either in BrE.

 

[Barb_D]

It's a useful idiom - but I've never heard of it before.

When something "is neither fish nor fowl," it has fallen between two stools, I guess. (I've never understood the logic of that one, though. It could be a mammal, or plant, or reptile, or insect, or...)

 

[Eckaslike]

I only tend to hear and use, "to fall between two stools", rather than the other version.

http://tinyurl.com/pzr3myh

 

[Rover_KE]

According to this source, 'fall between two stools' is a common American idiom.

 

[Skrej]

Rover, I only see that source as listing it as 'chiefly British'.

Edit:Although, I guess the first two entries do cite the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs, and the American Heritage Dictionary.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I had never heard it before today. I can pretty much guarantee that it is not a common American idiom.

 

[Barb_D]

Yeah, truly not a common American idiom. Useful, but not common.