Sentirse como el jamón del sándwich

[aleCcowaN]

http://forums.randi.org/images/smilies/mazeguyemotions/crowded.gif

That's the idea. It doesn't refer to be in a crowded place but to manage some middle terrain in a debate and feeling suffocated in the little space left to compromise and agreement. Also feeling like a mediator that has to cope with angry parties.

Ways to say it in English? ¿Otras formas en castellano?

Thanks in advance

[poli]

to be between a rock and a hard place

to be caught between two warring factors

The idioms section of Tomisimo says entre la espada y la pared

similar to el jamón de sandwich, you can also say

I'm sandwiched between two people who want to kill each other

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you poli. But all those seem to mean "feeling trapped without an option", "being caught", entre la espada y la pared means that. With jamón del sándwich they are not allowing the room for you to do what you have to do, but you have the option to leave without feeling you lost anything, least that you have yielded. If you are a mediator and the mediation fails because the parties made the mediator sentirse como el jamón del sándwich, the parties would have their problem unsolved. There's no room there for poner the mediator entre la espada y la pared.

[poli]

Bueno, si no quiere sonar entrampado, puede decir I'm the buffer between
two fighting parties/warring factors, etc.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you!

[Rusty]

'Stuck|caught in the middle' comes to mind. You may have to add 'between two opposing sides|people|arguments' to make your meaning clear.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, Rusty!

Eso me sugiere "quedar atrapado entre dos fuegos" y to be caught in the crossfire (though I had an idea of that being the same but in a position where it's difficult to remain neutral)

[Rusty]

'Caught in the crossfire' is good. It gives the idea that you're not defending either side (not helping any). You're just there, stuck in the middle, and there's not much you can do about the situation around you.
No one would miss you if you happened to sneak away. ;)

[Awaken]

"Caught in the crossfire" brings more symbolism to the phrase than just "caught in the middle." You can be "caught in the middle" of a bad situation. But "caught in the crossfire" seems to mean that each side is shooting/attacking at each other, even if it is just verbally.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, pals!

It goes that way; a context for "sentirse/ser (como) el jamón del sándwich" is when among family members or roommates there's a person who has good rapport with everybody but there are two who wouldn't get along and force the first person to mediate and press and entreat him to tip the scales in their favor by using their personal relation with this reluctant and victimized mediator.

[poli]

Thank you, pals!

It goes this way; a context for "sentirse/ser (como) el jamón del sándwich" is when among family members or roommates there's a person who has good rapport with everybody but there are two who wouldn't get along and force the first person to mediate and press and entreat him to tip the scales in their favor by using their personal relation with this reluctant and victimized mediator.
There is no idiomatic expression in English for sentirse como el jamón de
sandwich. A common neutral term is to be the guy (or the one) in the middle.