like shooting fish in a barrel

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

like shooting fish in a barrel

1. (simile) Extremely easy; sometimes with a connotation of triumph but at other times with a connotation of being meaningless and unsatisfying.

   Synonyms: easy as pie, like taking candy from a baby; see also Thesaurus:easy

   • 1982 April 2, Associated Press, “Entrants Gamble For Chance To Stalk Big Game”, in The Dispatch, USA, retrieved 18 July 2012, page 20:

     Opponents contend that the lumbering creatures are so easy to shoot that a moose hunt is a slaughter, not a sport. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel," they say.

   • 2003 October 24, Ken Johnson, “Art in Review: Mary Ellen Mark—‘Twins’”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 July 2012:

     For a photographer, shooting twins at the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, must be like shooting fish in a barrel.

   • 2005 March 29, John S. Doyle, “We're all sport crazy... but for all the wrong sports”, in Irish Independent, Ireland, retrieved 18 July 2012:

     Standing on those long straight roads with the speed detection gun was like shooting fish in a barrel, somebody said.

Translations

extremely easy

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 甕中捉鱉 / 瓮中捉鳖 (zh) (wèngzhōngzhuōbiē), 易如反掌 (zh) (yìrúfǎnzhǎng), 得来全不费功夫 (dé lái quán bù fèi gōngfū)

• French: simple comme bonjour (fr), bête comme chou (fr), con comme la lune (fr) (colloquial, pejorative)
• Korean: 누워서 떡먹기 (nuwoseo tteongmeokgi)
• Russian: проще пареной репы (ru) (prošče parenoj repy), раз плюнуть (ru) (raz pljunutʹ)
• Swedish: som att sno godis från småbarn (literally “like nicking candy from kids”)

See also

• bagatelle
• breeze
• cakewalk
• cinch
• doddle
• duck soup
• piece of cake
• piece of piss
• turkey shoot
• walk in the park
• walkover