Timeline for An idiom meaning someone's doing something useless and has no result at the end
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 11, 2017 at 16:10 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Sep 11, 2017 at 16:31 | |||||
| Nov 16, 2014 at 18:18 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Nov 16, 2014 at 20:15 | |||||
| Jun 26, 2014 at 20:24 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Jun 26, 2014 at 20:28 | |||||
| Apr 8, 2014 at 1:41 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Apr 8, 2014 at 2:10 | |||||
| Aug 11, 2013 at 22:02 | vote | accept | Gigili | ||
| Apr 14, 2012 at 5:52 | comment | added | Neil G | The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip… | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 16:46 | comment | added | ajk | If you're referring specifically to talking/convincing a person, another common idiom is like talking to a brick wall. | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 16:22 | comment | added | zzzzBov | but you can herd cats ;-p | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 15:35 | comment | added | Matt Krause | For me, "herding cats" implies that it's difficult or exasperating, but lacks an element of pointlessness. I sometimes describe setting up meetings with busy colleagues as "trying to herd cats", but I do want to meet with them--it's just hard to get all of them to agree on a time and place. | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 12:07 | comment | added | callum | Just FYI, another British English difference: in the UK the first one is nearly always phrased "...against a brick wall", not "...against the wall". In my experience. | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 10:53 | comment | added | Wudang | I'm (UK) more familiar with blood from a stone, rather than turnip. | |
| Apr 13, 2012 at 7:32 | history | answered | Jim | CC BY-SA 3.0 |