Last Updated ：2025/11/21

wrestle with a pig

Verb

idiomatic

(idiomatic) To engage in a struggle with an opponent that benefits from the struggle even without winning it.

Japanese Meaning

（比喩的な表現）相手との争いにおいて、相手は勝利しなくとも、争い自体から利益（注目や論争の材料）を得る状況を指す。 / （皮肉な意味合いで）無意味または不毛な争いに巻き込まれると、自分だけが損をし、相手がささやかな利益を享受する、といった状況を表す。

What is this buttons?

Don't wrestle with a pig; you won't win, you'll only get dirty, and the pig will enjoy it.

Google Translation / DeepL Translation

対立を好む相手と争ってはいけない。勝てないし、自分が汚れるだけで、相手はそれを楽しむだろう。

Details

Sense（1）

(idiomatic) To engage in a struggle with an opponent that benefits from the struggle even without winning it.

"And when you begin refuting one another's reasons, fussing back and forth, you generally do what a nationally known industrial relations authority warns you against: you wallow in the mud with the pig. He says, 'Never wallow in the mud with a pig, because the pig likes it.' That is exactly what he wants, because you are on his home ground. He can think of arguments as well as you can, so where do you come out?"

Google Translation / DeepL Translation