Greek calends
A time that never occurs; never; when pigs fly.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He will pay you back on the Greek calends.”
“The boss gives us a raise on the Greek calends.”
“She finishes her long novel on the Greek calends.”
“The committee promised to review our proposal, but we know they will get to it on the Greek calends.”
“My lazy roommate says he will clean the entire garage on the Greek calends, so I am not holding my breath.”
“If you wait for that old car to start working perfectly again, you will be waiting until the Greek calends.”
“The developer keeps promising a bug-free version of the software, but after ten delays, I expect the update to arrive on the Greek calends.”
“The politician pledged to address the systemic inequality, yet his vague timeline suggested the reforms would arrive only on the Greek calends.”
From the Latin phrase *ad kalendās Graecās*, signifying a date that does not exist. While the Roman calendar relied upon the calends as the first day of each month, the Greek calendar possessed no such division. To settle a debt on the Greek calends was, therefore, a formal method of declining to pay it at all.
Last updated August 10, 2026