Englishpie in the sky
Meaning: Something that is unrealistic or that cannot be achieved.
Example: “A four-day week sounds nice, but at this company it's pie in the sky.”
Other ways to say this
Japanese: 高嶺の花 (Takane no hana) Literally: A flower on a high peak
Korean: 그림의 떡 (Geurimui tteok) Literally: A rice cake in a painting- English: out of one's league
Origin: Coined outright by labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill in his 1911 song "The Preacher and the Slave," written for the Industrial Workers of the World. The song is a direct parody of the 1868 Salvation Army hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By," and Hill's lyric mocks preachers who promised suffering workers a reward in heaven instead of better conditions on earth: "You will eat, bye and bye, / In that glorious land above the sky; / Work and pray, live on hay, / You'll get pie in the sky when you die." The phrase kept Hill's original edge of skepticism as it spread — a pie in the sky is a reward too distant and too convenient to trust.
More English idioms
- take the cake To outdo; to exceed normal behavior; metaphorically, to win the prize.
- upset the apple cart To disturb the status quo; to shake up the existing situation.
- albatross around one's neck Something or someone that is a burden and difficult to get rid of.
- armed to the teeth Well-equipped with weapons.
- go back to square one Return to the beginning.
- go back to the drawing board Return to the planning stage of a project.
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