Is there a saying in English corresponding to "Another loach under the willow tree"?

Question

In Japanese there's a saying "another loach" in the short form, "look for another loach under the same willow tree" in the long form.

This saying is for ridiculing a person who blindly repeats what s/he once successfully did, or who imitates what somebody else successfully did, in the hope that s/he can succeed again not knowing s/he would surely fail the second time.

It comes from a famous folklore about a man who once captured a loach (like a catfish) in a stream under a willow tree, who tried unsuccessfully to catch another loach exactly at the same spot.

I am wondering if there is a saying in English similar to this?

Malvolio · Accepted Answer

Wow, that's a useful saying.  English seems to have the opposite sayings -- that success or failure of a particular sort make repetitions less likely:

The cat, having sat upon a hot stove
  lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid
  again. But he won't sit upon a cold
  stove lid, either. -- Mark Twain

or

Lightning never strikes twice in the same place

mgb · Answer

Cargo-cult is probably the nearest.

eg. in software a cargo-cult programmer keeps writing the same code they wrote before - because it worked in that situation.

MickeyfAgain_BeforeExitOfSO · Answer

There is at least one saying that is the other side of this coin - for a person who fails, but nevertheless continues the same action: "A fool trips over the same stone twice." Not what you want, but useful in its own right.

Ironically, a good fishing hole really is a good fishing hole, and what made it a favored habitat for the first loach would likely attract others to it as well - venerated sayings notwithstanding.

Alex · Answer

It sounds a little like "searching under the street light."

ghoppe · Answer

I think this English saying is close to your meaning, with the caveat that it's a little more optimistic. ;-) Maybe there's a few "loaches", but if you fish out the stream, you're a fool.

The pitcher which goes too often to the well gets broken

bugg · Answer

Lost in translation Is that loaches are represented as slippery/hard to catch in China and Japan so it like "betting on the winning number twice" or something along that line

MacSpacey · Answer

Well, there is a saying in the Dutch language that comes pretty darn close, it goes, A donkey never bumps into the same rock twice.... And I was looking for a similar thing that I could quote in the English language, but so far , I can't find much about a saying that has even a little bit of similarity. This post was just the only one with SOME effort put into a meaningful intellectual answer. And about the similarity of the loach and the Donkey.. Close but no cigar ? Or did I hit the nail on the head ? ?

Answered by MacSpacey on September 27, 2021

Is there a saying in English corresponding to "Another loach under the willow tree"?

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