斬腳趾避沙蟲 (zaam2 goek3 zi2 bei6 saa1 cung4) — Use unnecessarily drastic counter measures (ones that hurt oneself) to deal with a minor issue [Syn]食砒霜杜蟲 in Cantonese
zaamˊ²斬goek˗₃腳ziˊ²趾beiˍ₆避saaˉ¹沙cungˎ₄蟲简 斩脚趾避沙虫
Mandarin Pinyin: zhan3 jiao3 zhi3 bi4 sha1 chong2
Meaning of 斬腳趾避沙蟲
nounUse unnecessarily drastic counter measures (ones that hurt oneself) to deal with a minor issue [Syn]食砒霜杜蟲
nouna metaphor for going through excessive and drastic measures unnecessarily in order to avoid a small problem; literally 'cut off one's toes to avoid sandworms'; palliative; something that treats the symptom but not the underlying problem