turd polishing
Decorating the irredeemable
Turd polishing describes the futile effort to make something bad seem good—you can polish a turd, but it's still a turd: All that marketing is just turd polishing.
The phrase implies that no amount of presentation can disguise fundamental worthlessness.
Also rendered as polishing a turd or you can't polish a turd.
- lipstickCosmetic for coloring lips
- pigDomesticated swine for meat
- spinRapid rotation around axis
- spin doctorFavorable interpretation specialist
- marketingPromoting goods to consumers
lipstick on a pig · hype · glossy · facade · veneer · gold plating · shine · buff · garbage · junk · worthless · dress up · disguise · deception · PR · damage control · bullshit · smoke and mirrors
turd polishingstarting from scratch
back to the drawing board · cutting losses · gilding the lily
turd polishingbrutal honesty
Unsparing directness in speech
telling it like it is · calling a spade a spade · straight shooting · intellectual honesty