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Suitable idiom needed for describing a situation, where one thinks that by getting rid of an unwanted effect, one has gotten rid of its cause, while in reality the cause remains and will start to create the unwanted effects again.

For example, if the symptoms of some disease are cured, but the disease itself remains uncured and will start to cause the symptoms again

Thanks!

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    There are some in this question, which is about the opposite. I'm not saying they're duplicates. Your question is asking about "treating the symptoms" the other question is asking about "treating the cause".
    – Catija
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 17:19
  • "Out of sight, out of mind."
    – Hot Licks
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 19:17

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Two others expressions come to mind:

1) rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic and 2) polishing a turd both convey the sense of naively doing ineffectual work which ultimately doesn't fix a looming problem. The first one is more polite, of course.

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  • Love these because they make me laugh. They're both quite easily understood by me at least.
    – Catija
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 19:09
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Commonly, this is said to be "treating the symptoms and not the cause", though I cannot find any good sources to cite on this one.

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  • It might help if you didn't finish the phrase. It's often shortened to simply "Treating the symptoms".
    – Catija
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 17:22
  • Unfortunately, as I suspected, that yields a bunch of medical pages, and this one! I was hoping for some kind of idiomatic definition. Ah well, I'll happily remove the answer if that is required, since I cannot cite sources etc..
    – Marv Mills
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 17:25
  • I don't know that you necessarily need them. It's perfectly understandable to me... if not "idiomatic" in the "It's a funny quip that says what the OP's asking for" way.
    – Catija
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 17:29

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