This idiomatic expression better the devil you know than the devil you don’t is said to mean it is better to deal with someone you already know, even if you do not like them, than to deal with someone that you know nothing about, because they may be even worse.
In this case, we mean it is becoming clearer to them that he is no angel; but better the devil you know. As a result of this context, many people erroneously use the idiom as better the devil you know than the angel you don’t.
Idioms are fixed expressions; the component words do not change to suit our preferences.
Back in those days, we used to believe that, after some years, idioms changed their component words. This is not true. We had just been using the idiomatic expressions wrongly. When we found the correct usage, we comforted ourselves that the idiom had changed.
One example is he who pays the piper calls the tune used to say that the person who pays for something controls how it is done, according to Merriam Webster Dictionary. The incorrect form of this idiomatic expression is used as he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
Other such examples like this are “on a platter of gold silver platter”, “a problem shared is a problem half-solved halved”, “it takes two to tangle tango”, and “what’s good sauce for the goose is good sauce for the gander”, and “if the worse worst comes to the worst”.
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They do not undergo any change after some years, even after many centuries.
They are fixed expressions. It is only permitted that we change the possessive adjectives. For example, in the idiom cross one’s fingers, one can substitute ‘my’, ‘his/her’, ‘their’ or any possessive adjective to personalize it.
However, personalization of idioms—with the use of possessive adjectives—must be done sparingly. At this junction juncture, it is important I write that not all idioms can be personalized. The ones that come with personalization are largely specified in a good English dictionary with “one’s”. In this case, we know that we can substitute one’s with any possessive adjective we have.
In the same vein, the definite or indefinite articles that are found in idioms must be respected and left as such. When we substitute “a” for “the” or vice versa, we may have inadvertently changed the fully embedded meaning of the idiom.
It must also be noted that we must not add new words to English idioms or delete the component words in order to suit our preferences or satisfy our broader expression, as in saying two good heads are better than one, birds of the same a feather (flock together), and bite off more than you can swallow chew.
Wrong usage of idiomatic expressions arises as a result of one or two conditions cited in the previous paragraphs. We have to treat and use idioms with every consciousness.
Lastly, we must also expose ourselves to different contexts and pay attention to some nuances or slight changes in idiomatic usage.
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