Straightener for a bender idiom?
In my language we have an expression that literally translates as: "Straightener for a bender".
The meaning is: When someone did something wrong and someone else is trying to fix it by adding yet another thingy, instead of doing it right directly, they're creating a "straightener for a bender".
Example:
- You see that somebody was annoyed by the door with the automatic door closer, so they put in a door stopper. Well, that's a nice "straightener for a bender".
- You find in a source code that certain data has been decompressed. You wonder where does the data originate from and you find that right before the call to the decompression function they have been compressed in another function.
- You are reviewing recurring transactions on several bank accounts you have. And you find out that there is a loop that transfers money from 1st to 2nd, then from 2nd to 3rd and finally from 3rd to 1st bank account.
Can be also used in software process, DIY projects, car repair, pretty much anywhere.
Question is: Is there an expression/idiom to describe that in English?
From the Microsoft website:
When a stopgap solution becomes an undocumented feature some people rely on...
However, this was only a temporary solution.
From Purge, a Booklet of Individual Stop-gap Solutions:
Pharmaceutically, limestone neutralizes or "sweetens" pH acidic waters. The process of adding limestone to acidic rivers is now a standard practice with environmental agencies. Yet, the source of the problem persists; combustion and consumption. We remain resigned to the stop gap solution, 'the bigger the problem, the bigger the pill'"--Artist's website, June 28, 2017
Oxford English Dictionary:
A temporary way of dealing with a problem or satisfying a need.
‘transplants are only a stopgap until more sophisticated alternatives can work’
Etymonline:
stopgap (n.)
also stop-gap, 1680s, from stop (v.) + gap (n.); the notion probably being of something that plugs a leak, but it may be in part from gap (n.) in a specific military sense "opening or breach in defenses by which attack may be made (1540s). Also as an adjective from 1680s.
Google Books Ngram Viewer:
stop-gap solution,stopgap solution,stop gap solution
jury rig (or Jerry rig). TFD
Any makeshift or temporary device, rig, or piece of equipment.
This seems close:
two wrongs don’t make a right
The phrase is the exact opposite of what is mathematically true, that is two negatives make a positive. This is because in behavioural sciences, if a person is yelling and another person responds will yelling then the resultant discussion will not become a silent one. It will in fact be chaotic. The phrase does not advocate accepting the wrong but instead strategically states what would not be the right thing to do in such a situation. While the literary source could not be accurately traced, the phrase is speculated to be around since the early 19th century.
Source: theidioms.com
You should consider fix.
TFD(idioms):
fix
2. an appropriate repair. Do you have a good fix for a leaky faucet?
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
7. n. a repair made to a computer program. (Computers.) This little fix should make the whole program run faster.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.