Interesting origin...

Reminds me a little of 'between Scylla and Charybdis' - 2 equally difficult places.

Out of the fire and into the frying pan...

Between a rock and a hard place....

D@mned if you do and d@mned if you don't....

Catch-22

Sophie's choice

I would never have guessed that "the devil" in this phrase referred to a physical plank. Learning new things all the time :-)

Piggy-backing again :-)

In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board..'

Interesting information.

Interesting, Jasdip, but I don't think people sat on the floor in the 1700's. People in the western world haven't sat on the floor in centuries before that--benches, stools but not on the floor. Chairs would have been scarce except for the more wealthy.