КАК ОТ КОЗЛА МОЛОКА

• КАК <ЧТО> ОТ КОЗЛА МОЛОКА coll, disapprov

[как etc + PrepP; these forms only; subj-compl with быть (subj/ gen: пользы, толку etc); fixed WO]

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⇒ s.o. or sth. is of absolutely no use, help etc:

- пользы от X-a как от козла молока••≈ X is (about) as useful as tits on a boar;

- X is good for nothing;

- one gets as much good out of X as milk from a he-goat;

- trying to get some use out of X is like trying to get milk out of a billy goat.

     ♦ "Старика мирного убивать - это тоже война?" - "...Такие, как дед Гришака, и настраивали казаков супротив нас... От него пользы было, как от козла молока, а вреда много" (Шолохов 5). "Killing a peaceable old man - is that war too?" "...It was old men like Grandad Grishaka who set the Cossacks against us...WJ got as much good out of him as milk from a he-goat. But he did a lot of harm" (5a).