[Idiom] Between thirst and drought.

[Mahi93]

Hello all,

From the movie "Timbuktu 2014"

Excerpt subtitling:

Mother - Everyone fled.
Mother - There's no one left.
Mother - We're the only ones.
Father - I'd rather we stayed here.
Father - Where would we go?
Father - What's the use of fleeing all the time?
Father - Where would I take Toya, between thirst and drought?
Mother - Still, we could get closer to other people.

I think the father means, here, ‘when things run out of hand’. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
Thirst and drought seem perfectly at their place here because these people live in the desert.
But, can this idiom also be used in other situations?

 

[MikeNewYork]

That phrase is similar to the idiom "between a rock and a hard place".

 

[Skrej]

I wonder if that maybe isn't even a direct translation of an idiom from some language. If you're living in a desert or arid climate, I'd expect there to be water-based idioms.

I remember hearing a Tamazight idiom when I was in Morocco that translated to something like 'as easy as drinking water', used to express how simple or easy something was to do.

 

[Mahi93]

OK, for me to remember

- It is probably a direct translation of an idiom from the Bambaran language , not to be considered an English idiom.

Thanks Mike and Skrej