When you have to much of a good thing, or are repeating things superfluously, you’re putting cake on cake – tårta på tårta or kaka på kaka, at least in Swedish [source].
For example:
– Det är tårta på tårta = That would be too much [source]
– Det är lite tårta på tårta att tala om ”ISBN-nummer” = It is a bit superfluous to talk about “ISBN number”
The English phrase “too much of a good thing” first appeared in writing in Shakespeare’s play As You Like It in 1600 [source].
A similar idiom is “to gild the lily“, meaning to embellish or improve something unnecessarily. Or to add superfluous attributes to something. It is apparently a misquote from Shakespeare’s play King John (1595):
“To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw a perfume on the violet, to smooth the ice, or add another hue unto the rainbow, or with taper-light to seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, is wasteful and ridiculous excess.”
Other related idioms include “to go overboard” and “to over-egg the pudding” [source].
In Chinese an equivalent idiom is 畫蛇添足 [画蛇添足] (huàshétiānzú) = “to draw a snake and add legs” [source].
Are there other idioms in English or other languages with a similar meaning?
Photo from: http://www.janneyscollection.com/product/arthur-court-gilded-lily-side-table/
Hi Simon,
You may like this. I know some young people that like to say “TMI” which stands for Too Much Information. You are said to be using, giving or saying TMI when you are discussing something that is too detailed and too personal and/or embarrassing. However, I know some people that use TMI too often. To them, I say, “That’s Too Much TMI”. That is sort-of gilding the lily, but in reverse. Kind of like throwing mud on dirt – totally unnecessary, and once you’re done doing it, you can’t tell the difference anyway.
What do you say? Like it? Or, is my explanation Too Much TMI? Ha ha.
Cheers,
Robert
Way too much TMI 🙂