donkey’s years = eine Ewigkeit, ewig und drei Tage
“It’s been encouraging to hear for YONKS now that this idea of quarantining overseas arrivals in hotels will finally get around to being discussed at today’s meeting of the government’s Covid-O committee.”
Marina Hyde - The Guardian
yonks (UK)
informal
- a very long time, usually a number of years
Cambridge Dictionary
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ORIGIN
Unknown. First seen in print around 1960. One theory is that it comes from the idiom “donkey’s years”; another is that it is an acronym from Years, mONths, weeKS.
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STUPID QUESTION
St. Augustine was once asked,
“What was God doing through all the eternity of time before he created heaven and earth?”
“Creating hell,” he replied, “for those who ask questions like you.”
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SYNONYMS
aeons, all one’s born days, an eternity, forever and a day, a month of Sundays, donkey’s years, seemingly forever, time immemorial, time out of mind, years on end, until Hell freezes over, until kingdom come, until the cows come home, when pigs fly, YONKS
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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:
“A few days can feel like YONKS,… when you really miss someone!”
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THANKS to Florian for triggering today’s OWAD
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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:
https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3
Paul Smith