fall between two stools

From an old proverb, "Between two stools, one falls to the ground", which dates from 1390. This, in turn, is most likely a translation of the medieval Latin proverb labitur enitens sellis herere duabus ("he falls trying to sit on two seats").

• "Unfortunately, it fell between two stools: it was not good enough to be a competition car and those who wanted a roadburner preferred the Iso Grifo, which was better equipped."
• "Even Henry's will embodies that suspension between two poles, or falling between two stools, which characterises so much of his church's history from the point."
• "Patterson's therory has profound implications for any critical interpretation of the play: if, as she argues, we should recognise two distinct versions of the play with very different political effects, an interpretation which ignores the differences is likely to fall between two stools."
• "“[…] She Dido] could not bear to lose the land she had got by a swindle; and then she could not bear the loss of her lover. So she fell between two stools. […]”"
• "Failing to get rid of the old love Medea] before taking on the new—in other words, wasting his strength over a new and untried method before having fully established the old—he Jason] fell between two stools."
• "The Council, by trying to combine its functions as the responsible executive of the League with some of the representative attributes of the Assembly, has to some extent fallen between two stools, and gives the impression of not being certain of its rôle."
• "As your chances of mega-success increase so do your chances of falling between two stools, and if you get it wrong, you could end up with a dog’s dinner that satisfies no one."

• out of the frying pan, into the fire