whistle in the wind

present singular third person whistles in the wind · participle present whistling in the wind · participle past whistled in the wind · past whistled in the wind

1. UKespeciallyidiomaticTo attempt something that is futile; to say something that is not heeded.

   [E]veryone is doing no more than whistling powerlessly in the wind.

   2018 July 9, Farouk Cassim, "Let’s do much more than whistling in the wind", voices360.com (South Africa) (retrieved 29 July 2018)

   2 more examples

   [T]hey are expending more and more effort on trying to get right something that cannot, and should not, be done in the first place. […] Endless exhortations to "do it better" are, to put it politely, whistling in the wind.

   2009 February 22, Simon Caulkin, “However good the pay, it doesn't buy results”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 29 Jul 2018

   It doesn’t matter how strong your USP is or how powerful your value proposition, if the message isn’t reaching the right people you're whistling in the wind.

   2014 January 21, “Don't whistle in the wind?”, in DLH Marketing, UK, retrieved 29 Jul 2018

   Synonyms: piss in the wind, piss up a rope