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The "pick/choose your poison" idiom conveys that someone has to make a choice between two unpleasant options:

Hiring a carpenter is expensive and doing it yourself is slow. Pick/Choose your poison.

Removing your wisdom teeth means a painful visit to the dentist, but if you keep them you might have gum problems. Pick your poison.

Commuting using public transport is unpleasant and uncomfortable, but buying and maintaining a car is expensive. Pick your poison.

It seems that the origin is simply that since the mid-19th century "poison" has been slang for alcoholic drink. This may refer to the Latin root "toxicum" (meaning "poison") of the word "intoxicate", or it may just be a reference to the bad effects of excessive drinking. Thus the phrases "what's your poison?" "Pick your poison" and "choose your poison" arose naturally.

What I'm actually trying to translate is

Pick your poison and I'll pick mine.

Which of course conveys "you make the choice you want and deal with the unpleasant consequences of it and I'll make my own choice and deal with the consequences of it."

I was hoping that there would be an idiom for it in Spanish. Closest I could think of as of now would be "Estar entre la espada y la pared", but in Spanish you don't tell people "Decide si quieres la espada o la pared". You just use the idiom to convey that they are in a difficult place of between two unpleasant options.

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    In mexico you would add an small phrase for situations like this "o te chingas o te jodes" that literally means: "you get fucked up, or you get fucked up" with two different words
    – Mike
    May 9, 2019 at 21:10
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    One not totally related phrase that we use is "the vas de Guatemala a Guatepeor" to point that you chose from one bad situation to a worse one
    – fernando.reyes
    May 9, 2019 at 22:47
  • I made one up for you, that I think sounds like a refrán even though it isn't. Cada cual hace su propio pacto con el diablo.
    – aparente001
    May 10, 2019 at 2:47

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Hay un chiste, de esos que se tienen que contar rápido e imitando el habla tonta, y que probablemente solo hace gracia cuando eres niño o estás borracho, que dice así:

—¿Qué prefieres, susto o muerte?
—Susto.
—¡Buh!
—¡Uy, qué susto!
—Pues haber elegido muerte.

La frase que da inicio al chiste se usa mucho precisamente para expresar lo que dices, el tener que elegir entre dos opciones desagradables.

Vaya, esto va a ser susto o muerte.

Aquí puedes ver un ejemplo de uso hablando de las recientes elecciones en España:

Hasta el 28-A el eslogan que más oigamos será, en sus variantes, susto o muerte. Y luego toca elegir. 

Así pues, la frase que quieres traducir podría ser algo así:

Tú elige susto o muerte que luego elijo yo.

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  • Esta es una gran aportación. Por supuesto el susto es mejor que la muerte, que no tiene remedio. De ahí la gracia del chiste. Yo a veces he usado un "pues haber elegido muerte" cuando alguien empieza a quejarse mucho por algo, como una manera de recordarlos que la otra opción es mucho peor ("te quejas del susto, pero, de verdad habrías querido 'muerte'?"). En cualquier caso, ese uso que le has dado al final, es genial. En "pick your poison" las diferencias entre las consecuencias no son tan exageradas (que una es más preferible que la otra), pero creo que usarlo así transmite lo mismo
    – Diego
    May 10, 2019 at 10:14

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