screen door on a submarine
Something that is useless or absurd.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“That plan is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.”
“Trying to fix the leak with a piece of tape is like putting a screen door on a submarine.”
“The proposed solution was so fundamentally flawed that it proved to be as effective as a screen door on a submarine.”
The idiom logic is derived from the observation that a screen door on a submarine is an absurdity, as the mesh would allow the vessel to fill with water immediately upon submergence. No specific date or individual is credited with the coinage in historical records.
- 01
bang down the door
To present oneself as a strong candidate for a role or achievement, explicitly or implicitly.
- 02
big screen
Movies, or that which is related to movies or cinema.
- 03
blow the doors off
To be much more important or impressive than.
- 04
close the stable door after the horse has bolted
To attempt to prevent a problem that has already occurred; to design and implement a preventive mechanism that is too late (after the first failure instead of before).
- 05
darken a church door
To go to church to attend a service.
- 06
darken someone's door
To arrive at someone's residence or location, especially as an unexpected visitor.
- 07
don't let the door hit you on the way out
Used as a command to leave in haste, or to indicate that one is glad, or at least unmoved, to see the addressed person leaving.
- 08
get one's foot in the door
To initiate contact or a relationship; to gain access, especially to an entry-level job.
Last updated August 10, 2026