What does the saying, "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" mean?

It means dont do something out of anger that will damage you more than it does anyone else.

ex: I am mad at my sister so I am going to break this ipod that she gave me to get revenge. That would just result in me being the more one pissed because I broke my ipod and now it is of no use to me.

...best example I could come up with in simple terms, sorry. hehe.

By the look of yours ,
You could have it say "despite your face"

Do us a favour .....spin that bl**dy avatar,
I'm getting a cricked neck looking at you.
lol.

"Cut your nose off to spite your face", i.e., to do something stupid just to prove a meaningless point.

It's "cut off your nose to spite your face."

To "spite your face" means "to punish your face." It means a person who is so angry about something, they will take action that is actually self-destructive in the long run -- like telling your boss how much you hate her perfume the week before she does your annual performance review.

"Bite" is an error that people use because they (consciously or unconsciously) like the parallelism with "spite." However, unless you are an elephant, you really can't bite your own nose. :) The traditional idiom is "cut off your nose...".

Hope this is helpful!

There are times when you feel compelled to do something, that is either out of retaliation, anger, or pride. But you have the consider the consequences, and if they are damaging just to make a point, that is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I have always heard it as, "That's like cutting your nose off to spite your face".

I don't know its origins, but the expression refers to one who would get rid of something beneficial to them just to prove a point or through pig-headed obstination.

that reminds me of "sympathy for the martyr" by straylight run
anyways:
probably going out of my way as a child to be a pain in the ass to my stepmom to make her upset even though i was bending over backwards for a few minutes of her frustration (mind you i was only like 8-10 years old, but still)
things didn't end well when i finally moved out/ got kicked out of my father's house
but since then things between my father and me have gotten much better

you may want to read this article :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_off_the_nose_to_spite_the_face

of course, you could then shoot yourself in the foot too.

If you cut off your face then you wont have a nose...

One of my parents favorites.

It means doing something that is NOT in your best interest, just out of spite or to be a martyr. You think you are making others feel sorry for you or punishing them, but you really aren't.

Generally, it is considered childish or at best, not well thought out behavior.

It means, don't do something now that may seem to satisfy your sense of revenge or anger, but will later prove to have been more damaging to you, yourself!

For example, if you were to take an overdose of sleeping pills to show your lover or whoever, just how bad they'd feel when you were gone, it would be a case of cutting of your....umm...head to spite your face, in this case..heh

it was just a few months ago...My boss was making stupid statements in our managers meeting one morning.... i was tired of it and i guess in a bad mood, so i finally stepped in and told him that if we didnt meet our goal, i would resign... i told him to not say another word to any of my people and it would all be on me......

Well we missed our goal by 3 units and i resigned on the first of the next month...

Moral of the story be careful when you are protecting your people... lmao

Be careful not to butt in where you don't belong and if you do belong watch what you say and how you say it -

That's "cutting your nose off to spite your face".......see the mucus...

I had a bet that it was "despite" your face instead of "in spite". I was very surprised that I was wrong. Was I??? I still feel that It was always told to me "despite".

Same as "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Hope this helps!
;-)

"Cutting Off Ones Nose ...." is a frequesntly used expression, especially in political circles. It means that a person or organization states one platform or belief but their actions are in direct conflict with their publicly stated objectives. For example, a nation may require more skilled labor and state it as so but instead they make immigration laws even tougher. One decision discredits the stated objective. Often it is done out of spite and/or to punish another group. Whatever the reason, the action or decision brings negative results.