windmill
v.— «We also learned we have windmilled ourselves when it comes to driving fuel-efficient cars and trucks. “Windmilled” is a term used to describe what happens when good intentions meet reality. When private entrepreneurs wanted to put windmills around Cape Cod to generate electricity, they ran into critics—among them Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made a career out of campaigning for renewable energy, except, apparently, where he could actually see it.» —“Tracking, then taxing, mileage sounds like trouble” by Joe Soucheray Pioneer Press (Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota) Feb. 21, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Joey from Orono, Minnesota, has been learning Italian and its many idioms, which makes him wonder if there are other languages that can simply be learned in a classroom without input from a larger cultural context of new and evolving expressions...
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...