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paddle

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up shit's creek (without a paddle)

rude slang In a challenging or daunting situation. I'm a single mother who just lost her job—I'm really up shit's creek right now. A: "I just found out that the school told my parents that I'm failing French." B: "Oh man, you're up shit's creek without a paddle."

See also: creek, up

paddle one's own canoe

Fig. to do something by oneself; to be alone. I've been left to paddle my own canoe too many times. Sally isn't with us. She's off paddling her own canoe.

See also: canoe, own, paddle

paddle your own canoe

  (informal)

to be independent and not need help from anyone else We hoped that after he left college he'd paddle his own canoe.

See also: canoe, own, paddle

paddle one's own canoe

Be independent and self-reliant, as in It's time Bill learned to paddle his own canoe. This idiom alludes to steering one's own boat. [c. 1800]

See also: canoe, own, paddle

up a creek

Also, up shit creek; up the creek (without a paddle). In trouble, in a serious predicament, as in If the check doesn't arrive today I'm up a creek, or The car wouldn't start, so I was up the creek without a paddle. This slangy idiom conjures up the image of a stranded canoeist with no way of moving (paddling) the canoe. President Harry S. Truman used the first term in a letter in 1918. The first variant is considered vulgar.

See also: creek, up

up shit creek (without a paddle)

and up the creek (without a paddle) and up a creek

mod. in an awkward position with no easy way out. (Usually objectionable.) There I was, at Disney World with only a measly $47.54. I was literally up the creek without a paddle. You are up a creek! You got yourself into it, so get yourself out.

See also: creek, paddle, shit, up, without

up the creek without a paddle

verb

See up shit creek without a paddle

See also: creek, paddle, up, without

up a creek

verb

See up shit creek without a paddle

See also: creek, up