neither fish nor fowl

Idioms  

1. Also, neither fish nor flesh; neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. Not one or the other, not something fitting any category under discussion. For example, They felt he was neither fish nor fowl—not qualified to lead the department, yet not appropriate to work as a staff member either. This expression appeared in slightly different form in John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection (“Neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring”) and is thought to allude to food for monks (fish, because they abstained from meat), for the people (flesh, or meat), and for the poor (red herring, a very cheap fish).

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Example Sentences

What I saw above Idaho was neither fish nor fowl, and I could not quite convince myself it was real.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2024

A photo of it indicates it being neither fish nor fowl, bunker-wise.

From Golf Digest • Jun. 4, 2018

It’s none of those — a tame and toothless creature that is neither fish nor fowl.

From New York Times • May 30, 2018

Pat Buchanan wrote a very famous memo saying that the Nixon administration was neither fish nor fowl.

From Slate • Apr. 3, 2017

Or was this strange being as yet neither fish nor fowl, neither beast nor human, merely a fungous growth on the diseased tissue of the modern world?

From The Root of Evil by Dixon, Thomas