Seriously, there are a lot of things to which the phrase should not apply. Any attempt at taking a risk that might expand one’s horizons should not be nipped in the bud, but encouraged.
A budding romance, a budding business idea, a budding insight, all should be encouraged to blossom.
It seems to me “Nip it in the Bud” always about something bad, from bad personal habits all the way to (a country aquiring nuclear weapon, although some people might debate that).
@flo No, not a joke.. Here’s the history of the saying. https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/256600.html
This phrase derives from the de-budding of plants. The earlier form of the phrase was ‘nip in the bloom’ and this is cited in Henry Chettle’s romance Piers Plainnes Seaven Yeres Prentiship, 1595:
A version of the current ‘bud’ version of the phrase first appears in 1607, in Beaumont and Fletcher’s comedy of manners Woman Hater (a title that they would probably have difficulty convincing a publishing house to use today):
“Yet I can frowne and nip a passion Euen in the bud.”