Make a mountain out of a molehill

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To Make a mountain out of a molehill or Making a mountain out of a molehill is an English idiom which means to make a big deal out of a minor issue.

The metaphor is an old one. Horace wrote Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus;[1] "the mountains will labour, a ridiculous mouse will be born." Horace here meant to poke fun at heroic labours producing meager results; his line is also an allusion to one of Æsop's fables, The Mountain in Labour. The title to Shakespeare's play, Much Ado about Nothing, expresses a similar sentiment.

Similar idioms exist in other European languages; a German equivalent is aus einer Mücke einen Elefanten machen, "to make an elephant out of a mosquito".[2]

The behaviour is frequently exhibited by persons suffering from anxiety disorder.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Horace, Ars Poetica, l. 139. Often misquoted as Parturiunt montes, nascitur ridiculus mus.
  2. ^ German Idioms at learnplus.com, accessed Nov. 21, 2007.
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