what are you doing? I'm burying a dead rat

[alpacinou]

Hello.

In my language when you are doing something pointless and futile, you use an expression that literally translates to "I'm burying a dead rat".
It means either you are doing nothing, or you are doing something useless.

Examples:

What are you doing in the quarantine man? -Well, I'm burying dead rats.

What does he do in the company? -He does nothing useful. He buries dead rats all day and gets a nice salary because he is connected to the boss.

Is there a similar expression in English? I am looking for an idiom.

I found this idiom "twiddle your thumbs" but it does not work because it does not mention doing something useless, or not doing anything useful.
It's about waiting.

 

[Glizdka]

Not a teacher.

A whole bunch of nothing?

 

[alpacinou]

A whole bunch of nothing?

I'm doing a whole bunch of nothing?

But that is not an idiom.

 

[tedmc]

busy doing nothing

 

[Phaedrus]

I'm (just) killing time.

 

[alpacinou]

Is there a slang idiom to similar to the one in my language?

 

[GoesStation]

Doing busy work.

 

[Glizdka]

I'd have that as one word, busywork.

Hellow, Piscean!

The link leads to a dictionary that transcribes busywork as /ˈbi-zē-ˌwərk/.

I'm totally flabbergasted. What sound is /ē/ meant to represent, and why is the work part transcribed with a schwa? I've played the recording provided by the website multiple times, and I can't hear a schwa there; I hear an /ɜ/ there. Is that the IPA or some other phonetic alphabet?

 

[emsr2d2]

If you're doing something pointless and futile (whilst still perhaps expecting a positive result), you're "flogging a dead horse". However, that doesn't apply if you're just doing something pointless to pass the time.

 

[alpacinou]

If you're doing something pointless and futile (whilst still perhaps expecting a positive result), you're "flogging a dead horse". However, that doesn't apply if you're just doing something pointless to pass the time.

I do like that. Does it work in this context?

What does he do in the company?
-He doesn't do anything useful. He is flogging a dead horse all day, but he gets a decent salary because he is connected to the boss.

What are you doing these days in quarantine?
-I don't do anything useful. I just flog a dead horse all day.

 

[GoesStation]

I do like that. Does it work in this context?

What does he do in the company?
-He doesn't do anything useful. He is flogging a dead horse all day, but he gets a decent salary because he is connected to the boss.

What are you doing these days in quarantine?
-I don't do anything useful. I just flog a dead horse all day.

It doesn't work there at all. You're flogging a dead horse when you futilely pursue an issue that has been settled. The expression comes from the unpleasant image of someone whipping their deceased draft horse to get it to pull a wagon.

 

[alpacinou]

It doesn't work there at all. You're flogging a dead horse when you futilely pursue an issue that has been settled. The expression comes from the unpleasant image of someone whipping their deceased draft horse to get it to pull a wagon.

Can you think of an idiom that does work in those examples?

 

[Phaedrus]

Can you think of an idiom that does work in those examples?

Mess around would work in those examples, or the variant that uses the F-word instead of mess.

 

[alpacinou]

I think "flog a dead horse" is fairly similar to "bark up the wrong tree". Am I right?

 

[Tarheel]

I'm going to use that one.

Lily: What are you doing?
Ron: Im burying a dead rat.
Lily: You're kidding.
Ron: Well, you wouldn't bury a live one, would you?

I think it might catch on. I'll help.

 

[GoesStation]

I've been hanging around here long enough that I'm starting not to notice when British expressions aren't used here in the States. We don't flog our dead horses, we beat them. Our technique gets no better results than theirs.