fish or cut bait
Stop stalling, act
Fish or cut bait means to either commit to doing something or stop wasting time—make a decision and act on it.
The fishing metaphor presents two useful alternatives: you're either fishing or you're preparing bait for others.
Standing around doing neither helps no one.
We've been talking about this merger for months—time to fish or cut bait.
- take a standPublicly commit to a position
- put up or shut upUltimatum demanding action or silence
- go hard or go homeTotal commitment or quit
- do or dieRequiring total commitment
- sink or swimSucceed alone or fail
decide · make up your mind · ultimatum · act · step up · choose · commit · all in · opt · take the plunge · determine · finalize · angling · resolve · shit or get off the pot · decision · contribute · perform
- decisionschoice, make a decision, choices, yes, no
- fishing idiomshook line and sinker, the one that got away, cast a wide net, reel in, off the hook
- opportunitygolden opportunity, window of opportunity, opportunity knocks, once in a lifetime, golden chance
- escalationescalation, escalate, ratchet up, worsen, intensify
fish or cut baitprocrastinate
Delay action unnecessarily
dither · vacillate · sit on the fence · waffle · hem and haw
fish or cut baittake your time
Proceed without urgency
no rush · no pressure · sleep on it · at your leisure · beat around the bush
fish, fishes, fished, fishing, fisher, fishers, fishery, fisheries, fishy