On the fence

    抱骑墙态度

    A: Has he decided whether he will take the job?

    B: No, he's still on the fence.

    A: He'd better make a decision soon. I heard there are other candidates.

    Note: THis idiom means "undecided." The allusion is fairly straightforward. If one sits astride a garden fence, one leg either side, you can not say he or she is on one side nor the other. Rather the person is "distributed" evenly between the two, and can, with equal ease, drop to either side. This idiom is often used with "sit." For example: Most people sit on the fence and would rather say "maybe" than "yes" or "no." In fact, in Chinese, people use a similar idiom for people who prefer to be ambiguous about something. We call them "骑墙," which literally means "sitting astride a wall."