pig in a python
n.— «The intense pressure to raise money comes from various sources. One of the most important is the doubling of caucuses and primaries from nine to 18 in early March 1988-a series of post-Iowa and New Hampshire contests requiring extensive organization in 1987 and massive infusions of cash in late February 1988 through the first week of March. “It’s a pig in a python,” Atwater said.» —“Fund-Raising as Preoccupation; Early Advantage Becomes More Critical” by Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Apr. 15, 1987. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Russian, an expression for something tantalizingly close but forever out of reach translates as “Your elbow is close, but you can’t bite it.” Much like the English phrase when pigs fly, it’s another colorful way of describing the impossible. This...
A listener reports that in and around his hometown of Le Mars, Iowa, the kind of loose-meat sandwich that others might call a sloppy joe is known as a tavern or a tavern sandwich, a name that likely goes back to a restaurant in nearby Sioux City...