self-licking lollipop

English

Noun

self-licking lollipop (plural self-licking lollipops)

1. Something that apparently exists only to sustain itself.

   Synonym: self-licking ice cream cone

   • 2017, Greg Mills, Olusegun Obasanjo, Jeffrey Ira Herbst, Making Africa Work: A Handbook for Economic Success, page 85:

     It will unquestionably be a marathon with no finishing line, a self-licking lollipop, since the more one gets things right in the city, the more people will come, and the bigger the challenge.

   • 2023, Mike Croll, The Rise of Security and Why We Always Want More, page 49:

     And if there isn't an incident it doesn't mean that you can relax your guard, it means that you might need more. The more you have, the more you want. Security is a self-licking lollipop.