solution

A quick and/or temporary solution to a problem that does not address or resolve the underlying cause of said problem. Taken from the Band-Aid brand of adhesive bandages. While offering free pizza to customers affected by the oil spill is a cute Band-Aid solution, the company has no plan in place to deal with the actual damage that it caused.

The Nazi program of annihilating all Jews in Europe during the reign of the Third Reich, an act of mass genocide that led to the murder of more than six million Jews. My great-grandfather was one of only a few Jews in his city to survive the Final Solution in Germany during World War II.

Adjusting the facts to suit the situation. In Greek mythology, Procrustes (his name meant “stretcher”) lived in a roadside house in which he invited travelers for a meal and a night's rest. The guests stayed in a bed whose length, according to Procrustes, exactly matched anyone who slept in it. And it did—after the host stretched a smaller guest on a rack or chopped the legs off a taller guest until he fit the bed. This practice ended only when the hero Theseus killed Procrustes by giving him a dose of his own medicine. Someone who alters the facts by, for example, overestimating or underreporting data is said to offer a Procrustean solution.