Throw out the baby with the bath water

Throw out the baby with the bath water is an idiomatic expression used to suggest an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad,^[1] or in other words, rejecting the essential along with the inessential.^[2]

A slightly different explanation suggests that this flexible catchphrase has to do with discarding the essential while retaining the superfluous because of excessive zeal.^[3] In other words, the idiom is applicable not only when it's a matter of throwing out the baby with the bath water, but also when someone might throw out the baby and keep the bath water.^[4]

History

This idiom derives from a German proverb, das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten. The earliest record of this phrase is in 1512, in Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools) by Thomas Murner; and this book includes a woodcut illustration showing a woman tossing a baby out with waste water. It is a common catchphrase in German, with examples of its use in work by Martin Luther, Johannes Kepler, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Otto von Bismarck, Thomas Mann and Günter Grass.^[5]

Thomas Carlyle adapted the concept in an 1849 essay on slavery:

"And if true, it is important for us, in reference to this Negro Question and some others. The Germans say, 'you must empty-out the bathing-tub, but not the baby along with it.' Fling-out your dirty water with all zeal, and set it careering down the kennels; but try if you can keep the little child!"^[6]

Carlyle is urging his readers to join in the struggle to end slavery, but he also encourages them to be mindful of the need to try to avoid harming the slaves themselves in the process.^[6]

Select list of the idiom in use

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

• Jay Presson Allen (1922–2006) was an American screenwriter. She explained in a 1972 interview with The New York Times:

"The trick in adapting is not to throw out the baby with the bath water. You can change all kinds of things, but don't muck around with the essence."^[7]

• In the article about Josh Lyman, a fictional character in the American television series, The West Wing, the President is cited explaining that Lyman would throw out the baby, the bath water and the bathtub in order to avoid letting the Chief of Staff down.^[8]

• In the article about Tenpole Tudor, a British punk band in the 1970s, the discography mentions a single record,

"Throwing My Baby Out With The Bath Water" / "Conga Tribe" – (1981, Stiff Records, BUY129) - UK #49^[9]

• In the article about Alan Kotok, one sentence explains

"Mikhail Botvinnik, three times world chess champion, wrote in his book Computers, Chess and Long-Range Planning that the Kotok–McCarthy program's "rule for rejecting moves was so constituted that the machine threw the baby out with the bath water."^[10]

• In the article about Mohs surgery, one sentence explains

"However, in recent years, a few surgeons attempted to throw the baby out with the bath water by claiming that Mohs surgery is no better than standard excision based on one study."^[11]

• In the article about Richard Brautigan, one segment explains

"When the 1960s ended, he was the baby thrown out with the bath water", said his friend and fellow writer, Thomas McGuane.^[12]

• In the article about Arbitration in the United States, one of the cited references is

David Sherwyn, Bruce Tracey & Zev Eigen. "In Defense of Mandatory Arbitration of Employment Disputes: Saving the Baby, Tossing out the Bath Water, and Constructing a New Sink in the Process", 2 U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. L. 73 (1999); n.b., abbreviated source in this legal citation format is the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law, Vol. 2, p. 73.

• In the article about Population viability analysis, one of the cited references is

Brook, Barry W.; Burgman, Mark A.; Akcakaya, H. Resit; O'Grady, Julian J.; Frankham, Richard (2002). "Critiques of PVA Ask the Wrong Questions: Throwing the Heuristic Baby Out with the Numerical Bath Water". Conservation Biology 16: 262–263. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01426.x. 

• In the article about Relativism, one of the sentences is

Relativists argue that this is a rhetorical trick, akin to claiming "you can't throw out the bath water without throwing out the baby too": denying absolute truths still leaves relativists free to be utterly and passionately opposed to torture.

• John Simon, the theater critic of New York Magazine, reviewed a 1983 play entitled Baby with the Bathwater by Christopher Durang:

"Theatrically, it may be all right to throw out the baby with the bathwater, but only if one did not first, in the writing, throw out the baby and keep the placenta."^[13]

Alternate expressions

The meaning and intent of the English idiomatic expression is sometimes presented in different terms.

• Throw out the champagne with the cork^[14]
• Empty the baby out with the bath.^[15]

Notes

1. ^ Cheng Lim Tan. (2002). Advanced English Idioms for Effective Communication, p. 52.
2. ^ Jewell, Elizabeth, ed. (2006). The Pocket Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus (2nd edition), p. 53.
3. ^ The World Book Dictionary,' Vol. 1, p. 146.
4. ^ Nichols, James. (1995). Assessment Case Studies: Common Issues in Implementation with Various Campus Approaches to Resolution, p. 16.
5. ^ Wilton, David. (2004). Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends, pp. 66-67.
6. ^ ^{a b} Wilton, p. 67.
7. ^ New York Times, Obituary. May 2, 2006.
8. ^ The West Wing, Episode 4.12: Guns Not Butter. Original airdate: January 8, 2003.
9. ^ Roberts, David. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th edition). .
10. ^ Abramson, Bruce (1989). "Control strategies for two-player games". ACM Computing Surveys 21 (2): 137–161. doi:10.1145/66443.66444. 
11. ^ Smeets, Nicole WJ; Krekels, Gertruud AM; Ostertag, Judith U; Essers, Brigitte AB; Dirksen, Carmen D; Nieman, Fred HM; Neumann, HA Martino (2004). "Surgical excision vs Mohs' micrographic surgery for basal-cell carcinoma of the face: randomised controlled trial". The Lancet 364 (9447): 1766–72. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17399-6. PMID 15541449. 
12. ^ Barber, John F., curator. 1970s, Brautigan Bibliography and Archive.
13. ^ Simon, John. "Brotherhood Weak," New York Magazine. November 21, 1983, pp. 67-68.
14. ^ Shaw Bernard and Edwin Wilson. (1961). Shaw on Shakespeare: an Anthology of Bernard Shaw's Writings on Plays and Production of Shakespeare, p. xvii.
15. ^ Kirkpatrick, Betty. (1999). Clichés: Over 1500 Phrases Explored and Explained, pp. 180-181, citing George Bernard Shaw's "Parent's and Children" (1914).

References

• Ammer, Christine. (1997). The American Heritage dictionary of idioms. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 10-ISBN 0-395-72774-X; 13-ISBN 978-0-395-72774-4
• Cheng Lim Tan. (2002). Advanced English Idioms for Effective Communication. Singapore: Singapore Asian Publications. 10-ISBN 981-4122-35-1/13-ISBN 978-981-4122-35-1; OCLC 226051976
• Nichols, James. (1995). Assessment Case Studies: Common Issues in Implementation with Various Campus Approaches to Resolution. New York: Agathon Press. 10-ISBN 0-87586-112-1/13-ISBN 978-0-87586-112-8; OCLC 33132059
• Shaw Bernard and Edwin Wilson. (1961). Shaw on Shakespeare: an Anthology of Bernard Shaw's Writings on Plays and Production of Shakespeare. New York: E.F. Dutton. reprinted in 2002 by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, New York. 10-ISBN 1-55783-561-6/13-ISBN 978-1-55783-561-1; OCLC 49690475
• Wilton, David. (2004). Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. New York: Oxford University Press. 19-ISBN 0-19-517284-1/13-ISBN 978-0-19-517284-3; 10-ISBN 0-7394-5593-1/13-ISBN 978-0-7394-5593-7; OCLC 54767339