Question

Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face to injure yourself out of anger toward another; to make a situation worse for yourself when angry with someone

Accepted Answer

Don't stay home because your ex-girlfriend is going to the dance with Juan. Why cut off your nose to spite your face? Some people were using this proverb in Latin as early as 1200. There may have been a story about cutting off part of a long, ugly nose, only to succeed in disfiguring the whole face. Apply that same idea to any spiteful action you commit against another person that ends up harming only you.

Idiom	Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face
Example	Don't stay home because your ex-girlfriend is going to the dance with Juan. Why cut off your nose to spite your face?
Meaning	to injure yourself out of anger toward another; to make a situation worse for yourself when angry with someone
Origin	Some people were using this proverb in Latin as early as 1200. There may have been a story about cutting off part of a long, ugly nose, only to succeed in disfiguring the whole face. Apply that same idea to any spiteful action you commit against another person that ends up harming only you.

Cut Nose Spite Face Stay Home Ex Girlfriend Dance