Useless things

Posted by Marian on December 17, 2001 at

In Reply to: Useless things posted by ESC on December 16, 2001

: : : : : : : : I'm wondering about phrases that mean attempting to do the impossible. "Whipping a dead horse" is a good one, though it refers to something (whipping a horse) that *would* have worked once, but no longer will. "Getting blood from a stone" is another phrase.

: : : : : : : : Do you have some other good ones? Thanks. - Patty

: : : : : : : I'm feeling musical today...

: : : : : : : IT'S IMPOSSIBLE

: : : : : : : It's impossible . . .
: : : : : : : Tell the sun to leave the sky,
: : : : : : : It's just impossible . . .
: : : : : : : It's impossible . . .
: : : : : : : Ask a baby not to cry,
: : : : : : : It's just impossible . . .
: : : : : : : Can I hold you closer to me.
: : : : : : : And not feel you goin' through me,
: : : : : : : Split the second,
: : : : : : : That I never think of you,
: : : : : : : Oh! how impossible . . .
: : : : : : : Can the ocean keep from rushin' to the shore?
: : : : : : : It's just impossible!
: : : : : : : If I had you, could I ever want for more?
: : : : : : : It's just impossible!
: : : : : : : And tomorrow , should you ask me for the world,
: : : : : : : Somehow I'd get it . . .
: : : : : : : I would sell my very soul,
: : : : : : : And not regret it . . .
: : : : : : : For to live without your love,
: : : : : : : It's just impossible!
: : : : : : :
: : : : : : : Impossible! ( hmm )
: : : : : : : Impossible!
: : : : : : : Original music with Spanish lyrics by
: : : : : : : Canache Armando Manzanero, 1970
: : : : : : : with English lyrics by Sid Wayne

: : : : : : I think you're flogging a dead horse with this one.

: : : : : These sayings concern doing something impossible, but each has a specific message--it's about something else:
: : : : : You can't eat your cake and have it too.
: : : : : The leopard can't change its spots.
: : : : : You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

: : : : There is one that came up recently. "Catch lightning in a bottle." Not impossible. But very difficult. It means (I think) to harness creativity.

: : : You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.

: : To expand the subtheme of futility... that's about as much use as "an ashtray on a motorbike", or "a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest", or the very British "a chocolate teapot".

: Screen door on a submarine. And the venerable "teats on a boar hog."

Here's another. You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.