fart in a windstorm

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fart in a windstorm (plural farts in a windstorm or farts in windstorms)

1. (idiomatic, mildly vulgar) Something utterly insignificant, ineffective, or fleeting.
   • 2004, David Unger, Life in the Damn Tropics, →ISBN, page 62:

     [I]t vanished like a fart in a windstorm.

   • 2005 May 9, Phil Rockstroh, “Running On Fumes”, in swans.com, retrieved 8 August 2015:

     [W]e might hear of the declining profits of GM, or rising oil prices, or the latest pronouncements from Alan Greenspan (all of which are of less consequence to the long-term order of the universe than a gnat fart in a windstorm).

   • 2013, Carl Douglass, Saga of a Neurosurgeon Series Book Six: The Vulture and the Phoenix (ebook), →ISBN, ch. 6 (Google preview):

     “It didn't do no more good than a fart in a windstorm.”

   • 2014 July 28, Kim Bolan, “B.C. Red Scorpion and associates arrested in Alberta (comment by rowdyroddypimper)”, in Vancouver Sun, Canada, retrieved 8 August 2015:

     Like a fart in a windstorm so are the days of their lives.

• piss in the wind