Timeline for What's a phrase for a compromise in which both sides are unhappy?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 20:57 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 20:52 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 20:46 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 20:40 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 18:57 | comment | added | Robbie Goodwin | "Splitting the baby" seems to work but two things: I never heard anyone say that, nor what where I'm from would be more applicable, "cutting" the baby because in our Bibles "cutting" is what Soloman suggested. I suggest "split the difference…" is related in no way other than the use of the word "split", doubly important in light of the poor baby. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 17:49 | comment | added | Davislor | @AzorAhai-him- I think “splitting the difference” at minimum implies that neither side got what it wanted, but I’ve reworded that sentence to say that it’s not a synonym. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 17:46 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 28, 2021 at 5:23 | comment | added | Syed M. Sannan - alt | @DawoodibnKareem I see | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 5:23 | comment | added | Syed M. Sannan - alt | @Davislor I mean at least one topic for this stack exchange site we got an English saying to say from this story "split the baby", and that's all that matters as of right now. Btw the story can be further debated at Christianity, Judasim, or Islam stackexchange sites. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 2:12 | comment | added | Davislor | @SyedMohammadSannan Some scholars see a parallel in the even grislier tale, from 2 Kings 6, of a later king who, during a starvation siege of Samaria, is asked to judge a dispute between two women, one of whose sons is already dead, about which of them should get custody of the other’s son. Only, this time, they were so hungry that they made a contract to eat her son yesterday, and the other woman’s son today. But the other mother cheated her and hid her own son, so she’s asking the king to make the other woman hold up her end of the deal. This makes the king realize just how angry God is. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 1:46 | comment | added | Dawood ibn Kareem | The story about the farmer's sheep who destroyed the other farmer's crops is very briefly mentioned in the Qur'an (21:78-79). I'm not sure about the story of the two women and the baby; I don't recall seeing it in the Qur'an, but I may be mistaken. Two of the four New Testament gospels (Matthew and Luke) mention Solomon in passing, but don't actually tell any of the stories about him. @SyedMohammadSannan | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 1:32 | comment | added | Syed M. Sannan - alt | @DawoodibnKareem hmm could be. Though, are there any references to this story or similar in the Gospel or Quran? | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 1:27 | comment | added | Davislor | @DawoodibnKareem There are folk tales similar to it from China, India and Greece, and no doubt more that I’m unfamiliar with. In many of them, the real mother ant the imposter are ordered to play tug-of-war, where whoever pulls the baby across a chalk line wins, the kidnapper pulls as hard as she can, and the real mother lets go rather than injure her son. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 1:24 | comment | added | Dawood ibn Kareem | What original sources are there for this story other than 1 Kings (in the Old Testament / Tanakh)? I'm aware that this story is retold by Nassir ibn Issa ibn Said Al-Kindy, but Al-Kindy also names Suleiman (Solomon) as the king at the time of the story. There's another story from the same source where King Dawood (David) takes advice from the child Suleiman in a dispute between two farmers, when a sheep belonging to one destroyed the property of the other; and I don't think that particular story is found in the Bible. Perhaps, @SyedMohammadSannan, you are getting the two stories confused? | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 0:50 | comment | added | Davislor | @SyedMohammadSannan You might be thinking of some other version of the story. The one in the Hebrew Bible says that it happened during Solomon’s reign. Some time before, upon taking the throne, Solomon does describe himself to God in a dream as “only a little child,” but this is probably just a figure of speech, as Solomon is by then old enough to marry and order the murder of a rival to the throne. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 0:48 | comment | added | Syed M. Sannan - alt | @DawoodibnKareem Well... according to some references Solomon was a child at the time he mentioned this, he was really intelligent and he would sit in the court with his father. Though I am still not sure that's the scene I hear the most. | |
| Aug 28, 2021 at 0:30 | comment | added | Dawood ibn Kareem | @SyedMohammadSannan - Not true. David died in 1 Kings 2:10. The baby story is 1 Kings 3:16-27. In particular, 1 Kings 3:25 is "And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other." (KJV). Solomon was the king mentioned. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 23:17 | comment | added | Syed M. Sannan - alt | A little correction, this wasn't at the reign of King Solomon, It was actually the reign of his father King David and this case was bought to King David and, King Solomon, who later became the king, at a very young age gave this suggestion. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 21:27 | comment | added | Laurence | Yes, 'Split the difference' may be perfectly acceptable to both parties. I'm afraid that, though we may not yet have found the perfect answer, a plainly inaccurate one has been accepted here. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 18:15 | comment | added | Azor Ahai -him- | @costrom "Splitting the difference" doesn't imply both sides are unhappy though. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 17:20 | comment | added | costrom | FWIW, I have literally never heard the phrase "splitting the baby" in AmE. While I am quite familiar with the story of Solomon, it would not be immediately clear what the reference is. Strongly recommend "split the difference" instead. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 17:03 | comment | added | Stidgeon | Thanks for "splitting the baby" - it fits for me. I wasn't convinced by the Solomon story on its own, but the slightly repurposed usage among US lawyers works. Lots of good suggestions here, but that's why I went with this one. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 10:35 | comment | added | Davislor | @DawoodibnKareem A “split-the-baby negotiation” today is a real compromise. Even in the original story, telling both women that they could get half of the baby was a putative compromise, just one so horrific that the arbitrator did not expect it to actually happen, and only proposed it to get the parties to back down from their intractable positions. “Then how about you make both your families travel the same distance?” could be like that. | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 4:51 | comment | added | Dawood ibn Kareem | This feels badly incorrect to me. "Splitting the baby" isn't any kind of compromise. It's more akin to "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face". | |
| Aug 27, 2021 at 2:06 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 27, 2021 at 1:20 | vote | accept | Stidgeon | ||
| Aug 26, 2021 at 22:28 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 26, 2021 at 22:23 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 26, 2021 at 22:00 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 26, 2021 at 21:55 | history | edited | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 26, 2021 at 21:50 | history | answered | Davislor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |