cold day in Hell

English[edit]

cold day in Hell (plural cold days in Hell)

(idiomatic, slang) The time of occurrence of an event that will never happen.
It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens.

an event that will never happen

Basque: haizerik ez den urtean (literally “in the year without wind”)
Belarusian: калі рак свісне (kali rak svisnje)
Bulgarian: кога́то цъ́фнат налъ́мите (kogáto cǎ́fnat nalǎ́mite, literally “when pattens blossom”)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 绝不可能, 绝无可能
Danish: en kold dag i helvede
Dutch: met Sint Juttemis; als pasen en pinksteren op één dag vallen
Esperanto: triĵaŭda semajno (literally “week with three Thursdays”)
Finnish: kun helvetti jäätyy (literally “when Hell freezes over”)
French: quand les poules auront des dents (fr) (literally “when hens have teeth”), semaine aux quatre jeudis (fr) (literally “week with four Thursdays”), à la Saint-Glinglin (fr), aux calendes grecques

German: nie im Leben (literally “never in a lifetime”)
Greek: όταν ασπρίσει ο κόρακας και γίνει περιστέρι (ótan asprísei o kórakas kai gínei peristéri)
Hungarian: majd ha piros hó esik (literally “when red snowflakes are snowing”), majd ha cigánygyerekek potyognak az égből (literally “when gypsy children are streaming from the sky”), majd ha a pokol befagy (literally “when Hell freezes over”)
Italian: alle calende greche (literally “on the Greek Calends”), quando gli asini voleranno (literally “when donkeys fly”)
Persian: وقت گل نی‎
Polish: jak rak świśnie a ryba piśnie (pl)
Russian: когда́ рак на горе́ сви́стнет (ru) (kogdá rak na goré svístnet, literally “when a crayfish whistles on the mountain”), по́сле до́ждичка в четве́рг (ru) (pósle dóždička v četvérg, literally “after a small rain on Thursday”)
Spanish: cuando las ranas críen pelo (es), cuando meen las gallinas
Turkish: kırmızı kar yağınca (literally “when it snows red”), çıkmaz ayın son çarşambası (tr) (literally “the last Wednesday of the non-ending month”)