扁担没扎，两头打塌

扎：扁担两头系绳的短木。打塌：滑落。指办事不牢靠，或比喻幻想一举两得，结果两头失算，两头落空。毛泽东《第二次世界大战的转折点》：“在此期间，希特勒鉴于去夏分兵的失败，集中他的兵力向着南线。然而他尚欲东断伏尔加，南取高加索，一举达成两个目的，仍然分散了他的兵力。他尚未计算到他的实力和他的企图之间的不相称，以致‘扁担没扎，两头打塌’，陷入目前的绝路。”

扁担没扎，两头打塌biǎn dàn mò zhā,liǎng tóu dǎ tā

like an unfastened carrying-pole: loose at both ends; when the carrying-pole is not secured at both ende its loads slip off—try to grab both but end up getting neither
❍ 那边听说不是红花亲，定不肯要了，好吧，这下子，那边挡驾，这边又不能转去，落得个扁担没扎，两头失塌。(周立波《山乡巨变》223) When one party heard she’d been married before,they turned her down flat,and now she can’t go back to the first one,she’s like an unfastened carrying-pole: loose at both ends.