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How would you translate this Spanish saying "Sacar un clavo con otro clavo" to English?

English Language & Usage Asked by Federico Navarrete on March 24, 2021

Fellow English Speakers,

I’ve been trying to translate this common saying from Spanish to English:

Sacar un clavo con otro clavo.

However, I cannot find any translation that satisfies my curiosity, I read some of them from websites like this one:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/un-clavo-saca-otro-clavo.205744/

Some of the suggestions are:

  • One nail/poison/devil drives out another.
  • The best way to get over one man is to get under another.
  • The quickest way to get over one man is to get under another one.

Nevertheless, none of them is a good translation, in my opinion, you might ask why? In Spanish, the meaning of the saying is that is not a good idea to get rid of a problem with a new one. Let’s take a real-life example of what I mean.

1st Example:

You’re dating a pretty girl, but unfortunately, you broke up in a
very bad way and then you start dating a new one as soon as possible
in order to overcome your ex; nevertheless, you
didn’t overcome the previous relationship and you’re just damaging the other
girl because you took a fast and bad decision to start a new relationship when you still had feelings for your ex.

2nd Example:

You hate a job in the cooking field because you’re not a good cook and
you resign from your current job, but instead of searching for a new
job in a new field, you get a new job as a cook, but as a Japanese one
and then as a Chinese cook and then as a German cook, in the end, you
are just trying to drive out a nail with another one, but the situation
is still the same one because you still hate cooking.

In the Spanish language, we use this saying in these kinds of cases. As you can see our meaning is that is a bad idea trying to overcome a problem with another one or get rid of one with a similar one, we don’t use it to say you can overcome your current problem with a greater challenge that helps you "forget it". Thanks for your suggestions.

One Answer

The remedy is worse than the disease seems to fit.

  • Measures to deal with the evils of one kind or another often make the situation worse. For example, calling in the armed forces during a period of public unrest is liable to make the remedy worse than the disease if it is done too hurriedly.
    Proverb Hunter

EDIT - "six of one, half a dozen of the other" seems like a good fit too.

"... you start dating a new one" but you soon realize you've just substituted half a dozen for six.

Correct answer by Centaurus on March 24, 2021

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