vacillation

(see also RECANTATION.)

back and fill To vacillate, tergiversate; to blow hot and cold, to be wishy-washy. Back and fill is a nautical phrase describing a method of maneuvering a sailboat in which the sails are trimmed so that the wind strikes them first on the forward and then on the after side, so as to reduce forward movement. The figurative U.S. informal use of the phrase plays on the idea of the alternating forward and backward motion as opposed to a significant movement in any one direction. It is used to describe any lack of commitment to a particular point of view.

blow hot and cold To accept first, then reject; to seesaw, shilly-shally. This phrase stems from Aesop’s fable of a traveler who was entertained by a satyr. The traveler blew his fingers to warm them, and then with the same breath, blew his broth to cool it. Apparently the satyr was appalled to meet one who could blow both hot and cold, and said:

As commonly used, blow hot and cold smacks less of hypocrisy than back and fill; it seems more natural and less manipulative.

Box and Cox Alternately sharing the same position, serving the same function or occupying the same space. Box and Cox, an 1847 farce by J. M. Morton, features two men—John Box and James Cox—who occupied the same apartment without being aware of each other’s existence. One worked the day shift and the other worked at night. The OED’s earliest citation for the phrase is from 1881.

fall between two stools To be indecisive, to vacillate; to fail because of the inability to make a choice or decision. This expression implies that if someone cannot decide which of two stools to sit upon, he is likely to fall between them.

The French equivalent, être assis entre deux chaises, means literally ‘to be seated between two chairs.’

hold with the hare and run with the hounds To straddle the fence; to play both ends against the middle; to get the best of both worlds. This hunting phrase is stronger than back and fill or blow hot and cold, implying an inability to commit one-self to one point of view, and an attempt to cover up by espousing both sides at once.

in dock, out nettle Inconstancy, vacillation, changeability, instability. This obsolete expression was originally part of a charm repeated while rubbing leaves of the herb dock into nettle stings in order to counteract any ill effects: “Nettle in, dock out, Dock in, nettle out, Nettle in, dock out, Dock rub nettle out.” An early figurative use of the expression is found in Nicholas Udall’s Ralph Roister Doister (1553):

Jekyll and Hyde One whose nature is contradictory—sometimes good and benevolent, other times evil and malevoient; a split personality; anything marked by the opposition of antagonistic forces. This popular phrase comes from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). In this story, Jekyll appears as a kind, respectable character, Hyde as an ugly, despicable figure; however, both personalities belong to one man. The following quotation from the Times Literary Supplement (July 2, 1931) shows a current use of this phrase.

mugwump See INDEPENDENCE.

on the fence Undecided, especially in regard to political issues. This expression alludes to the dilemma of a person atop a wall who must decide which is the safer side to descend. In contemporary usage, this American slang phrase usually describes a politician who waits to see how an issue fares before committing his support in either direction.

a reed shaken by the wind A spineless, wishy-washy person whose opinions shift with the prevailing political or conventional winds; a tergiversator. As currently used, the image stands on its own; the phrase bears no relationship to the New Testament context in which it was spoken by Jesus regarding John the Baptist.

shilly-shally To vacillate between two ways of thinking or acting; to dally with trifles to avoid making a decision. The original phrase was shall I, shall I, which was altered to shill I, shall I. The present form of shilly-shally was used as early as the 1700s. It is an innocuous phrase which, like blow hot and cold, suggests no hypocrisy or manipulative behavior.

weathercock A person of wavering principles; an indecisive person; a trend follower. In the 9th century, a papal decree ordered each church to place the likeness of a cock atop its steeple in allusion to St. Peter’s triple denial of Jesus before the cock crowed twice. After a time, these cocks were mounted on pivots so that they pointed to the direction from which the wind was blowing. Thus, weathercock acquired the sense of something being directed by the fancy of the prevailing wind. The term, used figuratively since the time of Chaucer, still carries its meaning of one of vacillating principles.

The expression’s figurative meaning has been extended to include a person who quickly adopts the latest styles and fads, perhaps as an analogy between the ever-changing directions of the fashion world.