slipperyslope

[sagehen]

 >"...what but gives him the desire to
>struggle again up the slippery slope of fortune?"
>~~~~~~~
 >Or the mountain slope Sisyphus rolls the rock up to no avail.<
~~~~~~~
None of the contemporary uses of "slippery slope"  that I see or hear are
in any way suggestive of striving upward and slipping back;  all are
derisive of the notion that the first step (off the current path) at the
*top* of a slippery slope can be taken in safety.
A. Murie