Медвежья услуга
Medvezhya usluga
Word-for-word
"Bear's service"
English equivalent
"A disservice / To do more harm than good"
What does it mean?
A "help" that unintentionally causes more harm than good to the recipient.
Example in use
Russian
Он оказал мне медвежью услугу, когда попытался "исправить" мой код.
Translation
He did me a disservice when he tried to "fix" my code.
When to use
Use this when someone tries to help you out of kindness but lacks the necessary skills or foresight, resulting in a worse situation for you. It is often used with a slightly ironic or frustrated tone.
Origin & cultural note
The idiom originates from the famous fable by Ivan Krylov, where a bear, wanting to shoo a fly away from his sleeping friend, throws a heavy stone at the fly but kills his friend in the process. It is a quintessential Russian idiom for describing well-intentioned incompetence.
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