Is there another idiom for using too strong a tool for the job: not "bring a gun to a knife fight" or "use a sledgehammer to crack a nut"? Or turn it around - one about using a simpler, more direct tool? It may be "kill a fly with..." But nothing I end it with sounds like what I a, looking for. Bazooka, maybe.
Asked
Active
Viewed 1.1k times
3 Answers
1
Googling "using a * to kill flies" (with a wildcard) yields, in the first two pages of results,
hammer,
bazooka,
shotgun,
sledgehammer,
flamethrower,
bullet,
cannon,
battleship,
machine gun,
howitzer,
tank,
as well as flyswatter. So it's clear that using X to kill flies is an established idiom, but there's no single word that is predominantly used for X. Pick your favorite weapon or tool and insert it.
Peter Shor
- 88,407
1
I like the phrase, "Kill two birds with one small thermonuclear device."
-
Or I just came up with one, "Kill two birds with a nuclear-powered sledgehammer". Or like any kind of oversized or bulky weapon that makes sense, I guess. I think your version is pretty great too though. – Ritvik The God Aug 02 '22 at 22:45
