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Glite Dictionary
to organise a piss-up in a brewery

to organise a piss-up in a brewery

9.9
To be unable to manage even a very simple task because you are very bad at doing things
  • idiom
  • /ˈɔːɡənaɪz ə pɪs ʌp ɪn ə ˈbruːəri/
  • NSFW
translation icon : no ser capaz de organizar ni lo más simple
  • Sarah is so disorganized that she couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery even on her best day.

Examples

  • Leave it out, he couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

    Sweeney! (1977)

  • The team lost the client because the project manager couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

  • In matters of scheduling, he is known to be someone who couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

Synonyms

to mismanage
vsto organise a piss-up in a brewery
17 4.8

To run something badly so it fails or causes problems

emphasizes total inability even for very simple actions
find (one's) ass with both hands and a flashlight
vsto organise a piss-up in a brewery
  • Offensive
9.9

Not able to do simple tasks, often confused and disorganized

describes similarly extreme incompetence in a British informal way

Antonyms

to handle with ease
3.3

Deal with a task or problem easily and with confidence

How Competent

to excel
58 3.7
to succeed
846 2.0
to manage
∞ 3.2
to mess up
  • Informal
597 2.8
to organise a piss-up in a brewery
  • NSFW
9.9

Surface Forms

organise a piss-up in a brewery infinitive
organize a piss-up in a brewery infinitive

Morphology

organize + a + piss-up + in + a + brewery

The literal components ('organise' + 'piss-up' + 'brewery') do give a clue — organising a drinking party in a place that already produces beer implies the task should be trivial — but the humorous, ironic force and the colloquial item 'piss-up' require pragmatic and cultural knowledge. A B1 learner who knows the words might guess something like 'failing at an easy job', but the sarcastic, idiomatic use is not fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Organise a piss-up in a brewery gives a simple picture: trying to plan a drinking party, a piss-up, inside a place already full of beer, a brewery. The joke is that even this very easy job would fail, so saying someone 'couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery' means they are 'extremely incompetent'.