Strangling the monster in the crib

July 10, 2007 12:08 PM

What are the origins of the idiom "strangle the monster in the crib"?
posted by commander_cool to writing & language (7 comments total)

It's a reference to Hercules strangling the serpents in his crib, isn't it? I'll look for a supporting link...
posted by amro at 12:20 PM on July 10, 2007

I always took it to mean getting to an issue before it becomes a bigger problem, as in "nipping it in the bud".
posted by sephira at 12:44 PM on July 10, 2007

Yes, surely it refers to Hercules killing the snakes sent by Hera to kill him whilst a baby in his cradle?
posted by greycap at 2:15 PM on July 10, 2007

I had always thought that it was based on the common fiction trope "if you could go back in time and kill Hitler as a a baby, would you?"
posted by solid-one-love at 2:19 PM on July 10, 2007

Hercules did strangle snakes in his crib, but that story doesn't seem to go along very well with the meaning of the idiom, as sephira points out.
posted by commander_cool at 5:11 PM on July 10, 2007

Especially since the most common variant reported by google is "in [i]its[/i] crib". Apparently Churchill said something of the sort in reference to communism, but I'm not finding an exact quote.
posted by squidlarkin at 5:34 PM on July 10, 2007

Are you sure it's not referring to Larry Cohen's 70's horror cult classic, "It's Alive"?

It is so sad that I thought of that before Hercules and the serpent.
posted by Lieber Frau at 7:30 PM on July 10, 2007