RussianМедвежья услуга (Medvezhya usluga)
Meaning: Help that actually makes things worse.
Literally: A bear's service
Example: “Он переписал за неё доклад — настоящая медвежья услуга.” — He rewrote her report for her and did more harm than good.
English equivalent: To do more harm than good
Equivalents in other languages
English: do more harm than good
Origin: From Ivan Krylov's fable Пустынник и медведь (The Hermit and the Bear, written around 1807). Wanting to help his friend the hermit, a bear waits for a fly to settle on the sleeping man's forehead and swats it with a heavy cobblestone, killing his friend along with it. As Serov's dictionary of catchphrases notes, the words медвежья услуга do not appear in the fable: readers coined them later as a summary of its moral.
More Russian idioms
- душа нараспашку (dusha naraspashku) Extremely open, trusting, or emotionally vulnerable with others.
- работать спустя рукава (rabotat' spustya rukava) To work carelessly, half-heartedly, without proper effort or attention.
- заморить червячка (zamorit' chervyachka) To have a light snack or small meal to satisfy hunger temporarily.
- медведь на ухо наступил (medved' na ukho nastupil) To lack musical ability or have poor sense of pitch and rhythm.
- пускать пыль в глаза (puskat' pyl' v glaza) To deceive or mislead someone, creating false impressions through trickery.
- Ни пуха ни пера (Ni pukha ni pera) Good luck — to which the ritual reply is 'To the devil!'.
Explore another collection: Compliments & Insults
Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.
- У тебя золотые руки (u tebya zolotye ruki) You're extraordinarily skilled — able to make or fix anything with your hands.
- Золотые руки (Zolotye ruki) You're wonderfully skilled with your hands — a true master at making and fixing things.
- Без царя в голове (Bez tsarya v golove) Foolish and reckless — with no one in charge upstairs.
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