up the creek
in an extremely difficult situation
TRANSLATION
up a creek = in einer schwierigen Lage sein, aufgeschmissen sein --- GOOGLE INDEX up the creek: approximately 4,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
As drought spreads, firms could be UP A CREEK
(CNBC website)
---
Nowadays, with the web and everything, a broken cable can mean you're UP THE CREEK.
(New York Times)
(CNBC website)
---
Nowadays, with the web and everything, a broken cable can mean you're UP THE CREEK.
(New York Times)
Did you
know?
up the (a) creek
idiom
- in an extremely difficult situation
(Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms)
---
The expression "up the creek" - or up a creek – is an American phrase that was first recorded around the middle of the 19th century. While the origin is not quite clear, there is some evidence that it refers to rural backwaters (a creek being a small body of running water) and the people who live "up" in these areas due to the belief – right or wrong – that a person can get caught in a difficult situation in such regions.
Some American writers, including William Safire, have suggested that up the creek might be from the older phrase to be "up Salt River," which was sometimes heard as Salt Creek. This was a way to make fun of the backwoods people in the US for their manners and uncultivated speech (the Salt River may refer to the one in Kentucky, a very rural state). If you sent someone up Salt Creek, particularly a political opponent, you thoroughly defeated him.
The Chambers Slang Dictionary says up the creek was probably a euphemism for the synonymous expression "up shit creek." As with up a creek, up shit creek is sometimes enhanced with the words "without a paddle" (We're up a creek without a paddle now!), which is just a way to emphasise being in a difficult situation.
(source: World Wide Words)
---
SYNONYMS
in deep water, in deep shit, in trouble, in a pickle, between a rock and a hard place, in a mess, in a bind, in a spot
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"We'll be up the creek if we don't solve this problem soon."
idiom
- in an extremely difficult situation
(Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms)
---
The expression "up the creek" - or up a creek – is an American phrase that was first recorded around the middle of the 19th century. While the origin is not quite clear, there is some evidence that it refers to rural backwaters (a creek being a small body of running water) and the people who live "up" in these areas due to the belief – right or wrong – that a person can get caught in a difficult situation in such regions.
Some American writers, including William Safire, have suggested that up the creek might be from the older phrase to be "up Salt River," which was sometimes heard as Salt Creek. This was a way to make fun of the backwoods people in the US for their manners and uncultivated speech (the Salt River may refer to the one in Kentucky, a very rural state). If you sent someone up Salt Creek, particularly a political opponent, you thoroughly defeated him.
The Chambers Slang Dictionary says up the creek was probably a euphemism for the synonymous expression "up shit creek." As with up a creek, up shit creek is sometimes enhanced with the words "without a paddle" (We're up a creek without a paddle now!), which is just a way to emphasise being in a difficult situation.
(source: World Wide Words)
---
SYNONYMS
in deep water, in deep shit, in trouble, in a pickle, between a rock and a hard place, in a mess, in a bind, in a spot
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"We'll be up the creek if we don't solve this problem soon."
