pushing on a string
n.— «The attempt to pump money into the banking system failed, and as a result, the phrase “pushing on a string” was coined to describe the futility of inflationary policies in this environment.» —“Wisdom from Richard Russell on the Inflation/Deflation Topic” by Jay Taylor HoweStreet.com Nov. 21, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...
Floordrobe is the new word for an old habit: piling your clothes on the floor instead of putting them away. The Oxford English Dictionary recently added an entry for it, defining floordrobe as “an untidy heap of discarded clothing left on the floor...