# All Slavic: You can't have it both ways



## bragpipes

This is the other way of saying "you can't have your cake and eat it."

In this context, a defendant is a (foreign) diplomat and as such, he cannot be charged with a particular crime in the US, since he has diplomatic immunity.   When the police threaten to deport him to the Soviet Union to face charges, he claims that he cannot be deported, since he is an American citizen (naturalized, through marriage).  

The prosecutor tells him "You can't have it both ways" i.e. you cannot claim to be a foreign diplomat when it suits you and a citizen when facing repatriation.  

How would this phrase be translated?


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## kloie

Serbian:
Ne mozes da imas i pare i jare.
Which means you can't have the money and the kid.


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## Panceltic

Slovenian:
Ne moreš sedeti na dveh stolih.
You can't sit on two chairs.


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## marco_2

Panceltic said:


> Slovenian:
> Ne moreš sedeti na dveh stolih.
> You can't sit on two chairs.



In Polish we have a similar expression: *Nie można siedzieć na dwóch stołkach *(the same is in Russian: _сидеть между двух стульев_), nowadays however you can also find an almost direct translation from English: *Nie można zjeść ciasteczka i mieć ciasteczko *(= You can't eat your cake and have it)


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## Милан

kloie said:


> Serbian:
> Ne mozes da imas i pare i jare.
> Which means you can't have the money and the kid.


+Ne možeš sedeti na dve stolice.


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## SilvioS

Croatian:
Ne može se imati ovce i novce.

"sjediti na dvije stolice" = straddle the fence / sit on the fence


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## rusita preciosa

Check out this thread - there are some posts for Slavic languages.


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## Karton Realista

marco_2 said:


> In Polish we have a similar expression: *Nie można siedzieć na dwóch stołkach *(the same is in Russian: _сидеть между двух стульев_), nowadays however you can also find an almost direct translation from English: *Nie można zjeść ciasteczka i mieć ciasteczko *(= You can't eat your cake and have it)


Some other examples, that do not necessarily apply to that context, but are used generally:
Albo rybki, albo pipki. 
Albo rybki, albo akwarium. 
Wóz albo przewóz.


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## KristinaM

И волкот сит и овците на број.
Back translation: The wolf is full, the sheep are all accounted for.


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## Karton Realista

KristinaM said:


> И волкот сит и овците на број.
> Back translation: The wolf is full, the sheep are all accounted for.


We have very similar saying in Polish (I wilk syty, i owca cała), so I'm pretty sure that saying actually means that you *can* have it both ways, doesn't it? 
It's a saying about compromise.


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## bragpipes

Karton Realista said:


> We have very similar saying in Polish (I wilk syty, i owca cała), so I'm pretty sure that saying actually means that you *can* have it both ways, doesn't it?
> It's a saying about compromise.



To me it sounds like you can't have it both ways.  The wolf can't be full without the loss of (at least) one sheep.  You either have a full wolf or all the sheep - you can't have both, no?


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## Karton Realista

bragpipes said:


> To me it sounds like you can't have it both ways.  The wolf can't be full without the loss of (at least) one sheep.  You either have a full wolf or all the sheep - you can't have both, no?


No, in Polish it's surely about the solution that's good for both parties.
Owca is singular, owce - plural, cała (whole, here: safe) applies to one, single sheep.
wilk syty i owca cała – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny


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## Panceltic

I agree, our saying "volk sit in koza cela" means a compromise that's good for both parties.


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