Cutting off the nose to spite the face
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Cutting off the nose to spite the face is an expression used to describe a needlessly spiteful or self-destructive overreaction to a problem. "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning not to act out of pique or pursue revenge in such a way as to damage yourself more than the object of your anger.
The phrase is believed to have originated from a (probably fictional) event that was said to have taken place in AD 867: Viking pirates from Sjaelland and Uppsala landed in Scotland and raided the monastery of Coldingham. When news of the raid reached Aebbe the Younger, the Mother Superior, she gathered her nuns together and urged them to disfigure themselves, that they might be unappealing to the Vikings. In this way, they hoped to protect their chastity. St. Aebbe accomplished this by cutting off her nose and upper lip. The nuns proceeded to do the same. The Viking raiders were so disgusted by the scene that they burned the entire building to the ground.
Although the nuns believed their actions to be justified (indeed, Aebbe was canonized), the expression has since come to refer to pointlessly self-destructive actions motivated purely by malevolence. For example, if a man is mad at his wife, he may burn down their house to punish her. Of course, this would be an example of cutting off his nose to spite his face, as in the process of burning down her house he would also be destroying his home, along with all his personal possessions.
An example from history is the Embargo Act of 1807, passed by the United States Congress to protest British and French interference in U.S. shipping. The act had the side-effect of prohibiting nearly all U.S. exports and most imports, greatly disrupting the U.S. economy.
Since the advice contained in "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is good, it's not surprising that similar proverbs have been popular in other languages and cultures, including the Chinese "Do not burn down your own house even to annoy your wife's mother."[citation needed]
It is closely related to the "appeal to spite" logical fallacy.
[edit] References in popular culture
In Star Trek: Voyager's sixth-season opener, "Equinox, Part II", the Doctor refuses to help the crew of a renegade Starfleet ship but Seven of Nine urges him to cooperate. He reassures her the crew would not harm him, as doing so would be "cutting off their nose to spite their holographic face".
In the film "Se7en", a model's nose is cut off by the serial killer, to spite her face. She is given the choice between phoning for help (and going through life disfigured) or taking an overdose. She takes the overdose.
