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烂泥扶不上墙

a hopeless case

→ 烂泥
phrase Rare #28,500
a hopeless case An insulting idiom for someone seen as incapable, useless, or impossible to improve. Literally, “mud cannot be supported onto a wall.”
CH: 他什么都不愿意学，真是烂泥扶不上墙。
EN: He refuses to learn anything—he's a hopeless case.

烂泥扶不上墙。

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

就当我烂泥扶不上墙

Just consider me a hopeless case.

— 少林足球 (2001)

那个烂泥扶不上墙的家伙先不说他父母

That hopeless guy—let’s not even get started on his parents.

— 看见恶魔 (2010)