are there any fun figures of speech for wasting your time or doing something that won’t have an effect in your language?

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1. Στου κουφού την πόρτα όσο θέλεις βρόντα. Translated to “you can knock a deaf man’s door as long as you wish”.

   Edit: we also use the Bible’s quote “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” (φωνή βοώντος εν τη ερημω) but that’s on a slightly different context: When you are talking about something that others don’t listen (eg when asking your teenager kids to do (or not to do) something, but they don’t listen to you).

2. We have “water naar de zee dragen”, to carry water to the sea. Means you’re doing something that’s utterly pointless.

   Also for specifically an action that won’t be sufficient to have any effect on an issue it is a “druppel op een gloeiende plaat”, a drop on a smoldering plate.

3. *Donner des coups d’épée dans l’eau* (strike water with a sword)

   *Pisser dans un violon* (to pee in a violin). I like this one ^^

4. I can think of “pisser dans un violon”. It translates too “peeing in a violin”, yes really, means it’s pointless. There’s also “mettre un pansement sur une jambe de bois” meaning “to put a bandage on a wooden leg” because what’s the point of that?

5. “Für Nüsse” (for nuts) is German slang for useless actions

6. “Traballar para o inglés” (to work for the Englishman) = to be taken advantage of, to work fruitlessly. Need I to elaborate?

7. If you announce something with big talking and oh that’s going to be so big / great etc and then once again nothing comes out of it, we talk about that “es ausging wie das Hornberger Schießen” – it went like the shooting in Hornberg

   The background of this is unclear. One version is that this town was attacked. The Hornbergers defended themselves, wasting all their ammunition quickly without hitting anything. The attackers from neighboring Villingen just had to wait until Hornberg ran out of ammo and then could attack. Another version is that Hornberg expected a visit by the Duke of Württemberg. When dustclouds became visible Hornberg made a cannon salute – but it wasn’t the duke. Rinse and repeat a few times, and when the duke actually showed up Hornberg had run out of ammo.

   If you do something completely useless you can also “Eulen nach Athen tragen” – “carrying owls to Athene”, as there were more than enough there already (another explanation: Owls were on coins, and Athene was rich – so you’d send money to the already rich, again rather pointless action). In the early 90s I heard a variation of this about “carrying architects to Berlin” instead.

   Another variation of a pointless action is “teaching a pig how to fly”

8. Det är som att hälla vatten på en gås (it’s like pouring water on a goose)

   Elda för kråkorna (light a fire for the crows)

9. “Mluvit do dubu” – To talk into an oak tree. And kind of more vulgar version for wasting time for someone unworthy and educating someone uneducable – “Házet perly sviním.” – To throw pearls to swines.

10. “A freca menta” – rubbing the mint. Now it means doing nothing, etc. It comes from a time serfs/servants used to rub the mint to make the rooms smell nice. It was the easiest task one could get assigned.

11. “Räkiä kattoon” – To spit to the ceiling. Can be used to describe wasting time.

12. *Garbellar aigua*, sifting water.

    Also not quite the same meaning, but *qui no té feina el gat pentina*, “he who doesn’t have work combs the cat”. Meaning that, when you have nothing to do, you end up doing the dumbest thing just to entertain yourself.

    *Pixar contra el vent*, peeing against the wind. When it’s not just useless but even counterproductive.

13. *Cavare sangue da una rapa*, which literally means “to draw blood from a turnip” is basically “to draw blood from a stone”, though with a shade of illusionary success.

    Should you try to explain things to somebody who won’t or can’t understand, you might be told *A lavar capo al ciuccio si perde acqua e sapone,* it means “if you try to wash the dinkey’s head, you’ll waste water and soap”, because donkeys aren’t meant to smell nice (and will fight you if you do try to wash them up).

    *Discutere del sesso degli angeli* means “to discuss the angels’ gender”, which was an actual theological question sometimes (if you’re wondering: it’s relevant to interpret the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah), but that sounded incredibly pointless and time-wasting to anyone not in the know; or you could say *parlare di questioni di lana caprina*, that is to say, “to talk about goat’s wool”, because goat’s wool used to be extremely cheap and thus not worth fussing over.

14. I think the closest one would be “mówić do słupa, a słup jak dupa” – “to talk to a pole and the pole (is) like an ass”.

    Basically it means that nothing reaches to the person even with simple instructions.