# Looking for a phrase that means... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 3, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713 "2015-02-03T15:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/1 "2015-02-03T15:45:15Z")
Hi to the wordsmiths at the dope… the smartest on the planet, in this galaxy and some say the universe… Is there a proverb that means the same as “Committing a big stupid to cover up a small stupid”? In relation to a recent story around here where a uni student agreed to blackmail from a cop so that he wouldn’t tell her parents she got caught bonking her boyfriend in a parked car… He ended up extorting a blowjob from her and raping her (and has since been arrested) Would love to have a phrase that conveys the meaning that agreeing to pay a bribe in return for keeping this from the 'rents is a much bigger stupid than the relatively minor indiscretion of having sex in a parked car… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/2 "2015-02-03T15:52:32Z")
When money is involved, the concept is usually called [“throwing good money after bad;”](throw good money after bad) it refers to a situation in which you have spent some money unwisely, and choose to spend additional money to improve the situation instead of just cutting your losses and moving on. [“Cutting off the nose to spite the face”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_off_the_nose_to_spite_the_face) refers to injuring oneself during an effort to injure someone else. I’d say “throwing good money after bad” comes close, but not quite - since the blackmail offer actually made things _worse_ for her. Not sure there’s a better idiom for her specific situation, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/3 "2015-02-03T15:58:27Z")
It might convey similar things if “out of the frying pan, into the fire” weren’t so dire in its usual usage. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/4 "2015-02-03T21:28:07Z")
“Throwing the baby out with the bathwater” maybe, but that’s more like abandoning an effort you deem to be unsalvageable. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/5 "2015-02-03T21:40:13Z")
Pulling a “Christie”? (The myriad of cover-ups and stone-walls after 'Bridge-Gate" seem to apply.) [Chris “Sit-Down-And-Shut-Up” Christie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWJOaVuoNqo) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/6 "2015-02-03T21:46:58Z")
There’s an explicit phrase: It’s not the crime, it’s the coverup. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/7 "2015-02-03T21:52:30Z")
when you’re in a hole stop digging she swallowed the spider to catch the fly ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/8 "2015-02-03T22:07:01Z")
Robbing Peter to pay Paul? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/9 "2015-02-03T22:13:23Z")
Cleaning with a muddy mop? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/10 "2015-02-04T00:43:52Z")
Peter Morris has come closest to what I’m looking for… Well done sir! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/11 "2015-02-04T09:24:33Z")
It’s crackers to slip a rozzer dropsy in the snide. Alleged Cockney slang for “It’s crazy to bribe a cop with counterfeit money”. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/12 "2015-02-04T14:46:04Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > It’s crackers to slip a rozzer dropsy in the snide. > > Alleged Cockney slang for “It’s crazy to bribe a cop with counterfeit money”. Nitpick: that should be: “…the dropsy in snide.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/13 "2015-02-04T17:49:22Z")
I’ve seen newspaper articles about people late for a flight who think calling in a bomb threat to delay takeoff is a good idea. It almost never is. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/14 "2015-02-04T18:16:06Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > she swallowed the spider to catch the fly There is nothing in the OP to indicate that she swallowed. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Robbing Peter to pay Paul? Rubbing a peter to pay for the fall ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/15 "2015-02-04T18:39:20Z")
Maybe not quite on the spot, but there is the German word “verschlimmbessern”, literally “to make things worse while trying to make them better”. Adopt it! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-phrase-that-means/711713/16 "2015-02-04T20:36:54Z")
I kind of like “Committing a big stupid to cover up a small stupid”.