Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater

Welcome to English in a Minute!

Some expressions we use in American English, really sound terrible.

Let’s hope Jonathan and Anna are not this careless.

Throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I have bad news.

What?

The boss wants to reorganize the office and change the way we’re doing everything!

But some things are really working well!

Why throw the baby out with the bathwater?

I agree, but she says we should “start fresh,” again.

To throw the baby out with the bathwater means to throw something valuable away with something unwanted.

Many language experts say this idiom entered English from the German expression, “pour the baby out with the bath.”

I’m sure it sounds just as unsettling in German.

And that’s English in a Minute!