Does "crossing the Rubicon" and "jumping the shark" mean the same thing?

[mia]

How about "crossing the cliff"?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. No. Not even remotely.

Crossing the Rubicon means to make a decision, or to take a step that changes everything.

Jumping the shark means a decline in popularity because of something stupid, like the shark jumping referenced in the saying.

Sheesh.

[mia]

3. Who's to say that

both couldn't happen at the same time?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. They could happen at the same time, but they still

won't mean the same thing.

[dawg]

15. Alea iacta aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!

[pnwest]

6. Jumping the shark originated from the show

Happy Days which went on wayyyyy too long, they ran out of story ideas, and somehow in one episode Fonzi jumped a shark on water skis. It means you took something way too far and have wandered into ridiculous land. Or you applied a bad idea from which there is no going back - yer done.

[mia]

9. Thank You!

I didn't watch Happy Days. Now I understand.

[GoneRonin]

13. I agree

In a particular situation an individual or group could be Jumping the Shark during their Crossing the Rubicon moment, but at the point of crossing you wouldn't know.

Crossing the Rubicon is just a choice or action that cannot be undone - after that moment everything else changes. It could be good, it could be bad...

Jumping the Shark just implies that after that moment, everything was simply downhill, or leading to an inevitable end.

[niyad]

2. As the first poster said, not even remotely. "Crossing the Rubicon"-- Julius Caesar. "Jumping

The shark"-- Fonzie.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. If there were a shark in the Rubicon, and Caesar's army jumped the river on motorcycles, maybe. nt

[lunatica]

7. Crossing the Rubicon meaning

The Rubicon is a river in the north of Italy and in Rome there was a belief that the Roman Army would never be used against Rome so the army, as a military body was not allowed to cross the river into the Roman Empire. But Caesar did it in order to become Emperor of Rome.

Jumping the shark is what the posters above say. An act too stupid to be taken seriously.

[mia]

10. Thank you.

I have a lot to learn.

[Aristus]

8. "Crossing the Rubicon" means taking an irrevocable action the outcome of which is still uncertain.

"Jumping the shark" implies the certainty of a decline in quality and believability.

[mia]

11. Thanks for the clarification! n/t

[Aristus]

12. Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon has given rise to another misconception.

Last edited Thu Apr 23, 2020, 02:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Legend has it that when Caesar crossed the river, which was the boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Roman territory, Caesar, who was committing treason, muttered to a subordinate: "The die is cast" implying a fatalistic view.

The ancient sources say that Caesar actually said "let the dice fly high", implying a more optimistic come-what-may attitude.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. Crossing the Rubicon means a fundamental change in the ordinary.

Whereas Jumping the Shark means a point where quality declines thereafter.

[lillypaddle]

16. I had to look up "Rubicon"

The idiom cross the Rubicon has an ancient origin. ... To cross the Rubicon means to make a decision or take a step that commits one to a specific course of action from which there is no turning back. The expression cross the Rubicon refers to a decision made by Julius Caesar.

Also, which is clear as mud to me

(in piquet) an act of winning a game against an opponent whose total score is less than 100, in which case the loser's score is added to rather than subtracted from the winner's.

[pnwest]

17. LOL - What trump said today...THAT

is the PERFECT example of jumping the shark. There’s no coming back from this, his stupidity will be legend.

[mia]

18. Before long the emperor will be summoning his royal clothiers.

I hope no one tries his magic potions.