Alternatives to "break a butterfly on a wheel"

Question

The phrase "to break a butterfly on a wheel" is very evocative, but I can't bring myself to use it: I find the "wheel" too disturbing.

So: what are some good alternatives?

(For those who are unfamiliar with this expression, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines it as "to employ superabundant effort in the accomplishment of a small matter". [link])

I don't blame you: I find disturbing the very idea of harming a fellow creature, one of such delicate grace and sublime beauty. That the wheel was used as a medieval torture device adds sadistic insult to gratuitous injury. — tchrist, Feb 09 '15 at 05:00
"to break a butterfly on a wheel" was used by Alexander Pope (around 1730) and it may be a bit dated today. — rogermue, Feb 09 '15 at 12:03
@rogermue: Well, Pope also gave us "faint praise", and probably lots of other expressions that we wouldn't bat an eye at. (And, I mean, he also used plenty of normal words like the and of and lock.) But you're right -- I ended my question with an explanation of what the phrase meant, which I wouldn't have bothered to do if I had felt that this were an everyday expression that everyone understood today. — ruakh, Feb 10 '15 at 05:55

ScotM · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-09T05:23:41.383

20

Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

to do something with more force than is necessary to achieve the result you want

When he sent ten men to arrest one small boy, he clearly used a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Better yet: Use a sledgehammer to swat a fly!

idioms.thefreedictionary.com

edited Feb 09 '15 at 05:23

answered Feb 09 '15 at 04:51

ScotM

30,572

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 04:53

9

Heavy-handed?

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/heavy-handed.html

If someone is heavy-handed, they are insensitive and use excessive force or authority when dealing with a problem.

In other words, I love the Chinese idiom with a similar meaning:

用高射炮打蚊子(literally: to shoot a mosquito with an anti-aircraft gun)

answered Feb 09 '15 at 04:53

March Ho

3,260

5

+1 for Shoot a mosquito with an anti-aircraft gun! Put that one at the top of your answer. – ScotM Feb 09 '15 at 04:57
There's also nuking the mosquito. – wchargin Feb 09 '15 at 23:03

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 05:59

6

Overkill is the phrase that comes to mind here. But if you're looking for a colorful animal metaphor, maybe "beat a dead mouse"?

answered Feb 09 '15 at 05:59

lonstar

461

Thanks! Although "overkill" does seem to be attested as a verb, that use sounds very odd to me. In my own experience it is invariably a mass noun. (And I'm not specifically looking for an animal metaphor, no, though I'm not opposed to one!) – ruakh Feb 09 '15 at 07:51
@ruakh You didn't ask for a verb, but you can have one: "to be overkill" would be a direct substitute for your phrase. – Qsigma Feb 09 '15 at 09:59
2

Possibly you mean the common idiom to "flog a dead horse", which has a slightly different meaning: to continue an action after that action ceases to be useful. – blmoore Feb 09 '15 at 13:30
@Qsigma: Eh? "To be overkill" certainly is not a direct substitute. It has the right part of speech, but it takes the wrong subject. – ruakh Feb 09 '15 at 17:15
@ruakh That depends on the sentence you want to write, which you didn't tell us yet. For example, "He hung the cabinet with a hundred nails, which was breaking a butterfly on a wheel" becomes "He hung the cabinet with a hundred nails, which was overkill." – Qsigma Feb 09 '15 at 19:23
@Qsigma: There's no specific "the sentence [I] want to write" at the moment. I posted this question shortly after an instance where I wanted to use "break a butterfly on a wheel", but couldn't bring myself to do so; but I'm looking for alternatives in general, for the next time I need to write such a sentence. (And coincidentally, in the instance that led to this question, I did end up reworking it a bit and using the word "overkill". So I'm certainly not saying that the suggestion is garbage. But it's not perfect, either, and it's certainly not "a direct substitute".) – ruakh Feb 09 '15 at 22:41
1

@blmoore - I meant beat a dead mouse as a counterpoint to flog a dead horse. The former indicates action that is no longer -necessary-, while the latter indicates action that is no longer -useful-. Seems different enough to me to justify a different phrase. – lonstar Feb 10 '15 at 20:13

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

There's a whole range of answers concocted in a veritable arms race:

That's like using a hammer to kill a ladybug
That's like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly
That's like using a pistol to kill a cockroach
That's like using a shotgun to kill a mosquito!
That's like using a bazooka to kill a flea.
That's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito
That's like using a nuclear bomb to kill a mosquito

Where the butterfly on the wheel goes in that list is unclear- maybe between the sledgehammer and the pistol.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 12:20

3

The figurative language surrounding this concept is generally pretty disturbing: to beat a dead horse, for example. The verb 'belabor' is nice, boring, alternative -- there is the expression 'to belabor the point.'

answered Feb 09 '15 at 12:20

bmargulies

666

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 12:42

2

In German it is common to say

"to shoot with cannons on sparrows" (germ.: "Mit Kanonen auf Spatzen schießen")

answered Feb 09 '15 at 12:42

Alternatives to "break a butterfly on a wheel"

6 Answers6

Linked