Everyday Office Jargon · Associate level

"Open up that can of worms"

"Open up that can of worms" means to raise an issue that will create more problems than it solves.

Say this instead: create more problems

How "Open up that can of worms" shows up at work

Deployed most often in meetings to shut down a reasonable question before it derails the agenda. The person who says it usually knows the answer is bad and would prefer it stay buried until the next team's watch.

Buzzword

Let's not open up that can of worms about the legacy data migration today.

Plain English

Let's not raise the legacy data migration issue today, it will create more problems than we can handle.

Corporate Rank: Associate · Category: Everyday Office Jargon

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