The idiom “between a rock and a hard place” vividly describes a challenging dilemma, a situation with no easy escape. While seemingly straightforward, the phrase’s origins are more nuanced than you might expect. Popular etymological narratives often link it to specific historical events, but a closer look reveals a more gradual evolution. Let’s delve into the history of this common expression, examining its potential roots and tracking its journey to becoming a staple in the English language.
One frequently cited origin story, propagated by websites like phrases.org, connects “between a rock and a hard place” to the American banking crisis of 1907 and its supposed impact on a mining dispute in Bisbee, Arizona, in 1917. This theory suggests the phrase emerged from the precarious financial situation of mining companies at the time.
The narrative goes that the lack of funding, stemming from the earlier banking crisis, fueled tensions between copper mining companies and their workers in Bisbee. When miners, some unionized, demanded better pay and working conditions, the Phelps Dodge Corporation, a major mine owner in the region, responded with a brutal act: the Bisbee Deportation on July 17, 1917. Around 2,000 striking miners and others were forcibly abducted, marched at gunpoint, and deported to New Mexico in cattle cars. Phrases.org implies this event, born from financial hardship, somehow birthed the idiom.
However, this connection strains credibility. The idea that a powerful corporation like Phelps Dodge, capable of mobilizing a 2,000-strong posse, arming them with machine guns, and commandeering cattle cars, was crippled by a decade-old financial crisis seems far-fetched. Attributing the idiom’s origin directly to the Bisbee Deportation and a supposed state of “bankruptcy” is a tenuous link at best.
Despite its dubious origins story, the Bisbee Deportation itself is a stark historical event. The U.S. federal government, while not initially supportive of the miners, eventually intervened, relocating the deported men to Columbus, New Mexico, and housing them in tents. These tents were ironically intended for Mexican nationals fleeing Pancho Villa’s revolution, highlighting the complex social and political landscape of the era. Many deportees remained in this camp for months, even petitioning the government for assistance to return home, long after the planned mid-September closure of the camp in 1917.
From the Trenches to Everyday Speech: Tracing Early Usage
If not the Bisbee Deportation, then where did “between a rock and a hard place” originate and how did it spread? The timeline for the idiom’s dissemination needs to be rapid if we consider an early documented use by a soldier in World War I.
Sergeant Jason “Bud” C. Williams, a farmer from Mountainair, New Mexico, used the phrase in a letter dated November 9, 1918, written “somewhere in France” during WWI. Published in The Mountainair Independent newspaper the following month, Williams wrote about the Central Powers being “between a rock and a hard place,” suggesting that “the hard place will get harder than the rock if Fritz don’t wake up.” This letter, penned just days before Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated and the armistice was signed, demonstrates the idiom’s presence in American vernacular by the late 1910s.
Sgt. Williams’s usage shifts the idiom’s meaning away from “bankruptcy” – if that was ever a primary meaning – to its modern sense of being trapped between undesirable options. How did a phrase supposedly born from a 1917 Arizona mining dispute reach a New Mexican soldier fighting in France by late 1918?
Prior to his deployment overseas, Williams was stationed at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas. In a letter from June 10, 1918, he and fellow enlistees thanked the town of Estancias, NM, for their send-off gifts. If we adhere to the Phrases.org narrative, we’d have to imagine a destitute Bisbee miner traveling north to central New Mexico, introducing the phrase to Sgt. Williams within a few months before his departure for Texas. This scenario, while not impossible, feels rather contrived.
A more plausible explanation is that “between a rock and a hard place” was already circulating in American English, particularly in the Southwest, before the Bisbee Deportation and Sgt. Williams’s deployment. Attributing its creation to either event is likely inaccurate. The Dialect Notes mention of the phrase being “common in Arizona in recent panics” (referring to the 1921 publication, likely referencing panics before then) suggests regional familiarity, but not necessarily origin. Bankrupt individuals and businesses certainly find themselves in difficult situations, but the idiom’s scope extends far beyond financial ruin.
Deconstructing the Metaphor: Hard Spots and Humorous Dilemmas
The humor in “between a rock and a hard place” lies in its almost redundant nature. A “hard place” is essentially a broader category that includes “rocks.” The phrase cleverly emphasizes the severity of the dilemma by presenting two equally unappealing “hard” options.
Interestingly, linguistic evidence suggests that the shorter expressions “in a hard spot” and “in a hard place” predate the full idiom. Examples from the 19th century illustrate this earlier usage:
“On examining the field of labor, I soon found myself [in a hard spot].” – The Home Missionary, July 1841.
“When here on Tuesday I remarked to him that he was [in a hard place], and he replied that he would rather be hung, if he could see his wife.” – Daily Dispatch (Richmond, VA), September 8, 1853.
The addition of “rock” to “hard place” in the later idiom seems to amplify the metaphor, creating a more vivid and memorable image of confinement and difficulty. Examples from the 20th century demonstrate the idiom’s growing use and evolving contexts:
“After that we were [between a rock and a hard place].” – John Buchan, The Courts of the Morning (1929).
“Well, you’re right behind the eight ball, or [between a rock and a hard spot].” – Branch Rickey, coach, St. Louis Cardinals, 1937.
“Because I find myself [between a rock and a hard place], with a lawyer on each side…” – Thruston Ballard Morton, U.S. Representative from Kentucky, 1949.
“East Texas [Pulp and Paper Co.] “had him between a rock and a hard place,”” – Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board, 1963.
The example from John Buchan, a Scottish novelist, is particularly intriguing. Buchan, who hadn’t visited North America until later in life, used the idiom in a novel featuring a character pretending to be Australian. This suggests Buchan might have picked up the phrase from American soldiers during World War I and incorporated it to lend his character an air of American or at least non-British vernacular, assuming his British readers would perceive it as such.
Contrary to claims of frequent usage in the 1930s, newspaper archives reveal limited instances of “between a rock and a hard place” during that decade and the 1920s. It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that the idiom’s popularity truly surged, as indicated by Google N-gram data.
Conclusion: A Southwestern Pedigree and Gradual Ascent
In conclusion, while specific origin stories like the Bisbee Deportation narrative are appealing, they lack strong supporting evidence. “Between a rock and a hard place” likely emerged organically in early 20th century America, possibly in the Southwest, building upon the earlier phrases “in a hard spot” and “in a hard place.” Its initial usage was not necessarily tied to bankruptcy, but rather to the broader sense of being in a difficult predicament.
The idiom’s spread may have been gradual, gaining traction through spoken language before becoming widely adopted in written media. World War I, with its mixing of people from diverse regions, could have played a role in disseminating the phrase, as suggested by Sgt. Williams’s usage and Buchan’s possible exposure to it. While pinpointing a precise origin remains elusive, understanding the historical context and linguistic evolution of “between a rock and a hard place” enriches our appreciation for this enduring and evocative idiom.
