neither fish nor fowl

Meaning: (idiomatic)Noteasilycategorized; notrightlybelongingorfittingwellin agivengrouporsituation; also, nothavingtheadvantagesof the variousoptions.Synonyms:neither fish, flesh, nor fowl;neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring;neither fish nor flesh;neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring1885,Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “Mysie and Dolores”, inThe Two Sides of the Shield, London:Macmillan and Co.,→OCLC,page347:Besides, I know I should hate being there without you; I'm a great old thing, as Jasper says,neither fish nor fowl, you know, not come out, and not a little girl in the schoolroom, and it would be very horrid going to a grand place like that on one's own account.1915,Harry Leon Wilson, chapter 11, inRuggles of Red Gap, Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Page & Company,→OCLC,page188:My hump was due, I made no doubt, first, to my precarious position in the wilderness, but more than that to my anomalous social position, for it seemed to me now that I wasneither fish nor fowl. I was no longer a gentleman's man—the familiar boundaries of that office had been swept away; on the other hand, I was most emphatically not the gentleman I had set myself up to be, and I was weary of the pretence.1919,E[dward] Phillips Oppenheim, chapter VII, inThe Box with Broken Seals, Toronto, Ont.:McClelland & Stewart,→OCLC,page68:"To tell you the truth," he confided, "I am a little tired of my job.Neither fish nor fowl, don't you know. I took an observation course at Scotland Yard, but I suppose I am too slow-witted for what they call secret-service work over here."1934, Lew Levenson, chapter V, inButterfly Man, New York, N.Y.: Castle Books,→OCLC,page53:The trouble, Kenneth, is in you. You areneither fish nor fowl. You are a country lout—fit only to associate with pigs.1993January 14,Jon Pareles, “Arts: Playing in reunion,Creamis the finale of rock ceremonies”, inThe New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon27 December 2022, section C, page15:Ms.[Etta] James, who has been a blues, rhythm-and-blues, funk and soul singer, said she no longer had to worry about being "neither fish nor fowl." "I know what I am now," she declared. "I'm rock-and-roll."2008December 30, Bob Sommer, “The Education ofDavid Frost”, inCounterPunch‎[2], archived fromthe originalon7 December 2022:"Docudrama" is by its nature a confusing genre—neither fish nor fowl, and thus lacking either taste or substance. (Maybe tofu is a better analogy.)

Examples:

EN: There's nothing more tortured on the face of this earth, neither fish nor fowl.
ES: No hay nada más abyecto en la faz de la tierra, ni en todo el reino animal.
EN: Fine! Put on airs as if you're European. You're neither fish nor fowl, but suit yourself.
ES: No eres un blanco, no eres nada especial.
EN: You act like Europeans, and end up being neither fish nor fowl!
ES: Pero no son ninguna excepción.
EN: It just appears that this case is neither fish nor fowl.
ES: Simplemente parece que este caso no es ni pato ni gallareta.
EN: Since you're neither fish nor fowl...
ES: De ti, claro.
EN: Because I'm neither fish nor fowl.
ES: Porque no soy ni chicha ni limonada.
EN: But that's neither fish nor fowl.
ES: Pero eso es porque nadie quiere tomarlo como tonto.
EN: It is neither fish nor fowl, in fact.
ES: No son ni carne ni peces, en total.
EN: Not punk, not rock 'n' roll. Like, neither fish nor fowl.
ES: Ni punk, ni rock 'n' roll, como dicen, ni carne ni pescado.
EN: You're neither fish nor fowl when it comes to politics.
ES: No eres ni pez ni gallina cuando se trata de política.
EN: Not so the commentary, which has been a work in progress for over a decade now, and continues to exist somewhere in between, neither fish nor fowl.
HI: ऐसा नहीं है, जो एक दशक से अधिक समय से प्रगति पर काम कर रहा है, और बीच में कहीं मौजूद है, न तो मछली और न ही मुर्गी।
EN: For many people, the middle represents no-man's land: You're neither fish nor fowl.
HI: इंसान एक होंगे नांटेगा न फ़िरक़ा
EN: In doing so, it loses it edge and ends up being neither fish nor fowl.
HI: इससे यह स्वाद खराब हो जाएगा, साथ पकने के बाद सॉफ्ट और रसदार नहीं बन पाएगा।
EN: Because of him we met such people that are neither fish nor fowl.
ID: Karena dia, kita berhadapan dengan orang-orang rendahan.
EN: These are low-level people that are neither fish nor fowl.
ID: Mereka orang rendahan seperti ikan atau unggas.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).