จับให้มั่น คั้นให้ตาย

Literal Meaning

English Proverb

Explanation

• Tweet
• Sharebar

• Tweet

Taken literally, this saying does not sound very pleasant. Grabbing something and squeezing it till it dies. But the idiom of doing something to death or until it dies is commonly used in many languages just to mean very much, as in the English saying ‘to laugh yourself to death’. And so the whole saying has more the meaning of taking something and applying pressure until something (e.g. information) comes out. To persevere until successful. A policeman captures a suspect and by applying the pressure of interrogation until the person gives up and gives the information needed. They are proven guilty.

There is not a directly equivalent English saying. We talk of squeezing until the pips squeak. Literally to crush a lemon so hard that all the juice has gone and the pips (seeds) rub against each other and squeak. This though has more of the meaning of applying pressure way beyond the point when it give any return. ‘The chancellor is determined to tax the businesses until the pips squeak’ Or we can hear the slang expression ‘Squeeze him till he coughs (or squeaks, squeals, spills the beans)’ in a cop film.