like kicking dead whales down the beach

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

like kicking dead whales down the beach
 adj.

   Describes a slow, difficult, and disgusting process. First popularized
   by a famous quote about the difficulty of getting work done under one
   of IBM's mainframe OSes. "Well, you could write a C compiler in COBOL,
   but it would be like kicking dead whales down the beach." See also
   {fear and loathing}.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

like kicking dead whales down the beach
whales

   <jargon, humour> Describes a slow, difficult, and disgusting
   process.  First popularised by a famous quote about the
   difficulty of getting work done under one of {IBM}'s
   {mainframe} {OS}es.  "Well, you *could* write a C compiler in
   COBOL, but it would be like kicking dead whales down the
   beach."

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1997-12-23)

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