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I need a bunch of idioms, and you guys are the ones to help me

Started by Derf, May 14, 2010, 10:17:01 PM

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Derf

May 14, 2010, 10:17:01 PM
I have been renovating an old travel trailer to use as hobby workspace/fortress of solitude/home theater. Let's just say that I'm not exactly a professional at home improvement. And the trailer, a 1972 Ford Prowler, didn't really give me much to work with, but it was within my price range, and I could see some possibilities in it. Anyway, the more I work on this trailer, the more I realize that it's going to be ugly no matter what I do to it, partially because of the original trailer I had to work with, and partially because of my (lack of) ability.

The phrase that came to mind is "It's like putting lipstick on a pig." Another way to put it is "It's like polishing a turd."

I'm looking for other idioms that say the same thing: Futilely trying to beautify the unbeautifyable. Help me, my friends!

I'm especially interested in idioms from countries outside the USA, simply because I've heard the American expressions. That's not to say I don't want any Americans to reply. Everybody's welcome to help me polish this turd.  :twirl: :lookingup: :tongueout:
"They tap dance not, neither do they fart." --Greensleeves, on the Fig Men of the Imagination, in "Twice Upon a Time."

Ed, Ego and Superego

#1
May 14, 2010, 10:37:09 PM
Yu know i read this as:
I need a bunch of IDIOTS, and you guys are the ones to help me

I was p**sed in a funny way
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes

LilCerberus

#2
May 14, 2010, 11:14:18 PM
"Science Fiction & Nostalgia have become the same thing!" - T Bone Burnett
The world runs off money, even for those with a warped sense of what the world is.

retrorussell

#3
May 15, 2010, 04:22:12 AM
Trying to turn coal into a diamond.
"O the legend they say, on a Valentine's Day, is a curse that'll live on and on.."

Newt

#4
May 15, 2010, 06:55:33 AM
Hmm. Might as well get the obvious one out of the way:

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

And not exactly the same, but in a similar vein:

You can dress an elephant up...but you can't take it anywhere.  (Often just the first part is used, with a pause implying the rest)
"May I offer you a Peek Frean?" - Walter Bishop
"Thank you for appreciating my descent into deviant behavior, Mr. Reese." - Harold Finch

Doggett

#5
May 15, 2010, 07:06:46 AM
You can't get clean water from a dirty tank.

That kinda of relates to siblings who behave badly and who have, what some would call, bad parents.


But it could work for you...
If you trailer is ugly, then what comes from it will be ugly too.
                                             

If God exists, why did he make me an atheist? Thats His first mistake.

indianasmith

#6
May 15, 2010, 07:15:08 AM
Shining like a diamond in a goat's behind!
"I shall smite you in the nostrils with a rod of iron, and wax your spleen with Efferdent!!"

Derf

#7
May 15, 2010, 07:34:01 AM
Quote from: Ed, Just Ed on May 14, 2010, 10:37:09 PM
Yu know i read this as:
I need a bunch of IDIOTS, and you guys are the ones to help me

I was p**sed in a funny way

I was hoping at least one person would read it that way. I worded it that way on purpose  :bouncegiggle: :twirl:

Thanks for the suggestions so far, friends. Keep 'em coming!
"They tap dance not, neither do they fart." --Greensleeves, on the Fig Men of the Imagination, in "Twice Upon a Time."

Chainsawmidget

#8
May 15, 2010, 11:37:21 AM
It's like trying to find gold in a silver mine
It's like trying to drink whisky from a bottle of wine
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