Etymology

when shrimps whistle

Today it means: When pigs fly; never. Full definition →

Russian когда рак
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Russian · calque ofкогда рак“when the crawfish whistles (on the mountain)”
  2. English todaywhen shrimps whistle

Calque of Russian когда рак (на горе) свистнет (kogda rak (na gore) svistnet, “when the crawfish whistles (on the mountain)”)

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.