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idioms

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 10:44:45 No.1441785 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>1441841 >>1441933 >>1441954 >>1442684

What was that idiom describing doing something that causes great damage in order to solve a smaller problem? Something like burning the barn down to kill a few mice.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 11:36:15 No.1441792 Report

Quoted By: >>1441793

Not sure as i am not a native speaker, but "burning bridges", maybe?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 11:41:22 No.1441793 Report

Quoted By:

>>1441792
I think burning bridges is completely different. Afaik it means ending connections between someone,

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 14:26:38 No.1441799 Report

Quoted By: >>1441867

Burning bridges has a different meaning, yes. I found this through googling:
>Cutting off your nose to spite your face
Though I believe it applies mainly to acts of revenge or retribution.
>Throwing the baby out with the bathwater
But instead of solving a problem it may apply more to just getting rid of unwanted things.
>Burning the village in order to save it
Actual quote from US soldiers in the Vietnam war, don't know if it's a common idiom.
>Burning down the barn to kill the rats
This is an actual idiom, y'know. Not certain if you were looking for a similar one or you just weren't sure it existed.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 19:18:49 No.1441841 Report

Quoted By:

>>1441785
Mebbe 'Throwing the baby out with the bathwater'.
'Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut' is similar tho not quite what you're asking for.
Or there's always the 'Pyrrhic victory' (a tactical victory at too great a cost to count as a real, strategic victory).

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 12 Feb 2024 20:38:31 No.1441867 Report

Quoted By:

>>1441799
>Burning down the barn to kill the rats
>This is an actual idiom, y'know. Not certain if you were looking for a similar one or you just weren't sure it existed.
I guess I just imagined another more popular idiom with the same meaning then. Thanks

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Feb 2024 01:36:08 No.1441933 Report

Quoted By: >>1441935

>>1441785
idiom (noun) - a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words
>Something like burning the barn down to kill a few mice.
Deducible, therefore not an idiom.
>Burning the village in order to save it
An oxymoron, but not an idiom.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face? (I don't think its an idiom either.)

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Feb 2024 01:53:34 No.1441935 Report

Quoted By: >>1441941

>>1441933
What do you call it then?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Feb 2024 02:12:35 No.1441941 Report

Quoted By: >>1441943

>>1441935
Proverbs.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Feb 2024 02:20:31 No.1441943 Report

Quoted By: >>1442165

>>1441941
Do you have a proverb or idiom for a situation where you are enlightened on a topic?

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 13 Feb 2024 03:54:22 No.1441954 Report

Quoted By:

>>1441785
pyrrhic victory

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 14 Feb 2024 01:41:17 No.1442165 Report

Quoted By:

>>1441943
"See the light."

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 16 Feb 2024 07:02:27 No.1442684 Report

Quoted By: >>1442688

>>1441785
To crack a nut with a sledgehammer.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 16 Feb 2024 07:16:40 No.1442688 Report

Quoted By:

>>1442684
That means "overdoing it" or "using way more effort/resources than needed". It's different from solving a small problem by causing a bigger problem or by causing bigger damage than what the small problem would have caused.

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