English equivalent proverb/idiom for this saying
In Tamil language, there is a proverb for a particular sequence of actions performed. The proverb is, "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)
This is usually said when politicians instigate something controversial and then they themselves try to pacify the situation. People who are innocent, wouldn't even know that they are being manipulated by the politicians.
Is there any equivalent saying in English? The closest I could find is "Tiger in a sheep's clothing". But I am not really convinced with it since I think it doesn't exactly capture this behaviour.
phrases expressions idioms proverbs
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
add a comment |
In Tamil language, there is a proverb for a particular sequence of actions performed. The proverb is, "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)
This is usually said when politicians instigate something controversial and then they themselves try to pacify the situation. People who are innocent, wouldn't even know that they are being manipulated by the politicians.
Is there any equivalent saying in English? The closest I could find is "Tiger in a sheep's clothing". But I am not really convinced with it since I think it doesn't exactly capture this behaviour.
phrases expressions idioms proverbs
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
3
A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16
add a comment |
In Tamil language, there is a proverb for a particular sequence of actions performed. The proverb is, "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)
This is usually said when politicians instigate something controversial and then they themselves try to pacify the situation. People who are innocent, wouldn't even know that they are being manipulated by the politicians.
Is there any equivalent saying in English? The closest I could find is "Tiger in a sheep's clothing". But I am not really convinced with it since I think it doesn't exactly capture this behaviour.
phrases expressions idioms proverbs
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
In Tamil language, there is a proverb for a particular sequence of actions performed. The proverb is, "Pillaiya killi vittu, thottila aatradhu", meaning, "Pinching a child and then oscillating the child's hammock". (Rough translation)
This is usually said when politicians instigate something controversial and then they themselves try to pacify the situation. People who are innocent, wouldn't even know that they are being manipulated by the politicians.
Is there any equivalent saying in English? The closest I could find is "Tiger in a sheep's clothing". But I am not really convinced with it since I think it doesn't exactly capture this behaviour.
phrases expressions idioms proverbs
phrases expressions idioms proverbs
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
edited 18 mins ago
Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
asked Jan 23 at 5:28
Nagarajan ShanmuganathanNagarajan Shanmuganathan
1,55651230
1,55651230
3
A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16
add a comment |
3
A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16
3
3
A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
The core idea in your proverb seems to be similar to that of the "arsonist firefighter." Such a person is said to be
setting a fire in order to put it out
An example of this expression used in the context of the phenomenon it describes appears in Andrew Murr, "A Moth to the Flame," in Newsweek (June 30, 2002):
Sadly, the scenario is not that rare; in the last year alone, more than a half-dozen firefighters around the country have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. "The big one is the vanity hero type," says Doug Allen, an arson expert—the firefighter who starts blazes just so he can put them out.
A figurative use of a similar phrase appears in Helene Stapinski, "'Transmission' Shifts Between Clumsy and Charming," in the Chicago Tribune [June 24, 2004):
Like a firefighter who sets a blaze in order to put out the flames and appear heroic, Arjun [Mehta, the novel's ptotagonist] unleashes a computer virus in the hopes that he will solve the problem and be rehired.
I don't think that the expression "setting a fire in order to put it out" has yet attained the status of a modern proverbial phrase in English, but I do think that it may be well on its way toward such status.
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
add a comment |
I cannot think of any similar idiom that uses behaviours (e.g., pinching, rocking) to convey the idea that seems to be conveyed by the Tamil saying. However, Janus-faced, and equivalently but less poetically, two-faced, both seem to convey the idea of duplicitous, contradictory behaviour.
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
add a comment |
I'd paraphrase what your politician is doing as "creating a problem so that he can solve it". It's not an idiom though. So I googled it. And having typed "create a problem", google suggested an autocomplete:
create a problem sell a solution
Google reckons it has 290 million hits... but most of them are using words from the phrase not the phrase itself. By using quote marks to restrict it to sites including the words as two separate phrases, there are only 320 hits.
So it's not a widely used phrase, so you can't really call it an idiom. It's catchy though, and clear what it means. I might use it, or something similar, maybe:
Create a problem so that you can offer the solution
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
add a comment |
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The core idea in your proverb seems to be similar to that of the "arsonist firefighter." Such a person is said to be
setting a fire in order to put it out
An example of this expression used in the context of the phenomenon it describes appears in Andrew Murr, "A Moth to the Flame," in Newsweek (June 30, 2002):
Sadly, the scenario is not that rare; in the last year alone, more than a half-dozen firefighters around the country have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. "The big one is the vanity hero type," says Doug Allen, an arson expert—the firefighter who starts blazes just so he can put them out.
A figurative use of a similar phrase appears in Helene Stapinski, "'Transmission' Shifts Between Clumsy and Charming," in the Chicago Tribune [June 24, 2004):
Like a firefighter who sets a blaze in order to put out the flames and appear heroic, Arjun [Mehta, the novel's ptotagonist] unleashes a computer virus in the hopes that he will solve the problem and be rehired.
I don't think that the expression "setting a fire in order to put it out" has yet attained the status of a modern proverbial phrase in English, but I do think that it may be well on its way toward such status.
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
add a comment |
The core idea in your proverb seems to be similar to that of the "arsonist firefighter." Such a person is said to be
setting a fire in order to put it out
An example of this expression used in the context of the phenomenon it describes appears in Andrew Murr, "A Moth to the Flame," in Newsweek (June 30, 2002):
Sadly, the scenario is not that rare; in the last year alone, more than a half-dozen firefighters around the country have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. "The big one is the vanity hero type," says Doug Allen, an arson expert—the firefighter who starts blazes just so he can put them out.
A figurative use of a similar phrase appears in Helene Stapinski, "'Transmission' Shifts Between Clumsy and Charming," in the Chicago Tribune [June 24, 2004):
Like a firefighter who sets a blaze in order to put out the flames and appear heroic, Arjun [Mehta, the novel's ptotagonist] unleashes a computer virus in the hopes that he will solve the problem and be rehired.
I don't think that the expression "setting a fire in order to put it out" has yet attained the status of a modern proverbial phrase in English, but I do think that it may be well on its way toward such status.
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
add a comment |
The core idea in your proverb seems to be similar to that of the "arsonist firefighter." Such a person is said to be
setting a fire in order to put it out
An example of this expression used in the context of the phenomenon it describes appears in Andrew Murr, "A Moth to the Flame," in Newsweek (June 30, 2002):
Sadly, the scenario is not that rare; in the last year alone, more than a half-dozen firefighters around the country have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. "The big one is the vanity hero type," says Doug Allen, an arson expert—the firefighter who starts blazes just so he can put them out.
A figurative use of a similar phrase appears in Helene Stapinski, "'Transmission' Shifts Between Clumsy and Charming," in the Chicago Tribune [June 24, 2004):
Like a firefighter who sets a blaze in order to put out the flames and appear heroic, Arjun [Mehta, the novel's ptotagonist] unleashes a computer virus in the hopes that he will solve the problem and be rehired.
I don't think that the expression "setting a fire in order to put it out" has yet attained the status of a modern proverbial phrase in English, but I do think that it may be well on its way toward such status.
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
The core idea in your proverb seems to be similar to that of the "arsonist firefighter." Such a person is said to be
setting a fire in order to put it out
An example of this expression used in the context of the phenomenon it describes appears in Andrew Murr, "A Moth to the Flame," in Newsweek (June 30, 2002):
Sadly, the scenario is not that rare; in the last year alone, more than a half-dozen firefighters around the country have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. "The big one is the vanity hero type," says Doug Allen, an arson expert—the firefighter who starts blazes just so he can put them out.
A figurative use of a similar phrase appears in Helene Stapinski, "'Transmission' Shifts Between Clumsy and Charming," in the Chicago Tribune [June 24, 2004):
Like a firefighter who sets a blaze in order to put out the flames and appear heroic, Arjun [Mehta, the novel's ptotagonist] unleashes a computer virus in the hopes that he will solve the problem and be rehired.
I don't think that the expression "setting a fire in order to put it out" has yet attained the status of a modern proverbial phrase in English, but I do think that it may be well on its way toward such status.
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
answered Jan 23 at 19:39
Sven YargsSven Yargs
112k19241499
112k19241499
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
add a comment |
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
I like this more than @AndyT's answer because this incorporates the malicious intension. Though Andy's answer talks about a creating a problem and then solving, it might very well be a problem that might be beneficial to tackle.
– Nagarajan Shanmuganathan
Jan 23 at 19:56
add a comment |
I cannot think of any similar idiom that uses behaviours (e.g., pinching, rocking) to convey the idea that seems to be conveyed by the Tamil saying. However, Janus-faced, and equivalently but less poetically, two-faced, both seem to convey the idea of duplicitous, contradictory behaviour.
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
add a comment |
I cannot think of any similar idiom that uses behaviours (e.g., pinching, rocking) to convey the idea that seems to be conveyed by the Tamil saying. However, Janus-faced, and equivalently but less poetically, two-faced, both seem to convey the idea of duplicitous, contradictory behaviour.
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
add a comment |
I cannot think of any similar idiom that uses behaviours (e.g., pinching, rocking) to convey the idea that seems to be conveyed by the Tamil saying. However, Janus-faced, and equivalently but less poetically, two-faced, both seem to convey the idea of duplicitous, contradictory behaviour.
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
I cannot think of any similar idiom that uses behaviours (e.g., pinching, rocking) to convey the idea that seems to be conveyed by the Tamil saying. However, Janus-faced, and equivalently but less poetically, two-faced, both seem to convey the idea of duplicitous, contradictory behaviour.
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
answered Jan 23 at 11:19
user02814user02814
51225
51225
add a comment |
add a comment |
I'd paraphrase what your politician is doing as "creating a problem so that he can solve it". It's not an idiom though. So I googled it. And having typed "create a problem", google suggested an autocomplete:
create a problem sell a solution
Google reckons it has 290 million hits... but most of them are using words from the phrase not the phrase itself. By using quote marks to restrict it to sites including the words as two separate phrases, there are only 320 hits.
So it's not a widely used phrase, so you can't really call it an idiom. It's catchy though, and clear what it means. I might use it, or something similar, maybe:
Create a problem so that you can offer the solution
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
add a comment |
I'd paraphrase what your politician is doing as "creating a problem so that he can solve it". It's not an idiom though. So I googled it. And having typed "create a problem", google suggested an autocomplete:
create a problem sell a solution
Google reckons it has 290 million hits... but most of them are using words from the phrase not the phrase itself. By using quote marks to restrict it to sites including the words as two separate phrases, there are only 320 hits.
So it's not a widely used phrase, so you can't really call it an idiom. It's catchy though, and clear what it means. I might use it, or something similar, maybe:
Create a problem so that you can offer the solution
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
add a comment |
I'd paraphrase what your politician is doing as "creating a problem so that he can solve it". It's not an idiom though. So I googled it. And having typed "create a problem", google suggested an autocomplete:
create a problem sell a solution
Google reckons it has 290 million hits... but most of them are using words from the phrase not the phrase itself. By using quote marks to restrict it to sites including the words as two separate phrases, there are only 320 hits.
So it's not a widely used phrase, so you can't really call it an idiom. It's catchy though, and clear what it means. I might use it, or something similar, maybe:
Create a problem so that you can offer the solution
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
I'd paraphrase what your politician is doing as "creating a problem so that he can solve it". It's not an idiom though. So I googled it. And having typed "create a problem", google suggested an autocomplete:
create a problem sell a solution
Google reckons it has 290 million hits... but most of them are using words from the phrase not the phrase itself. By using quote marks to restrict it to sites including the words as two separate phrases, there are only 320 hits.
So it's not a widely used phrase, so you can't really call it an idiom. It's catchy though, and clear what it means. I might use it, or something similar, maybe:
Create a problem so that you can offer the solution
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
answered Jan 23 at 12:42
AndyTAndyT
13.7k54268
13.7k54268
add a comment |
add a comment |
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A better English version would be 'Pinching a child and then rocking it to sleep', but I can't think of a similar idiom in English.
– Kate Bunting
Jan 23 at 9:35
Or, perhaps more likely, if that is possible for a non-existent saying (!), "Don't pinch the baby and then rock the cradle."
– user02814
Jan 23 at 11:20
Perhaps tangentially related: Is there an English equivalent of the Hindi saying “sau chuhe maar billi haj ko chali”? (After killing/eating 100 mice, the cat goes on a pilgrimage)? The main difference is that this proverb seems to focus on causing a problem in order to solve it, whereas that one is more concerned with doing something cruel or unethical and then assuming a mantle of piety.
– Sven Yargs
Jan 23 at 19:16