To hold an eel by the tail.
– To try to keep control of something slippery or hard to manage
– Often implies the attempt is ‘futile’, because the thing will ‘slip away or escape’
– Can also suggest ‘a risky or uncomfortable situation’ where you can’t easily “keep hold” of what’s causing trouble.
📌 Typical Usage:
You’ll usually see it in contexts like:
– Trying to ‘control a difficult person’
– Trying to ‘manage an unstable/volatile problem’
– Handling a ‘sneaky or evasive situation’
– Attempting to ‘deal with something that won’t stay in your control’.
🌍 Origin:
– This is an ‘old proverb/saying’ found in ‘English’ and also reflected in other European folklore traditions.
– The imagery is very natural:
An ‘eel is famously slippery’, so holding it by the tail is inherently hard and unstable.
But:
Unlike some proverbs, the exact earliest documented author/source for ’this exact phrasing’ is often ‘unclear’ in commonly available references. Many proverb databases describe it as ‘a traditional figurative expression’ rather than something tied to a single famous writer.
✍️ Author:
– ‘No single well-established author’ is consistently credited for this specific sentence.
– It’s best treated as an ‘anonymous traditional saying / proverb’ rather than a quote from one notable person.
