English equivalent to the Arabic idiom 'soak it and drink its water'?
There is a common Arabic idiom, which literally translated says:
Soak it and drink its water
It can said about pretty much anything, to express a kind of contemptuous indifference.
For example, when Hassan Naseralah was informed Hezbollah had been included in the European Union's list of terrorist groups, he made a speech where he said "You can soak your list and drink its water".
It's similar to the English idiom "you can shove it up your a$$ for all I care", except in Arabic the phrase is formal, not vulgar.
Is there a formal, or at least non-vulgar, analogous idiom in English which expresses contemptuous indifference, belittlement, and scornful dismissal?
Solution 1:
That list is not worth the paper it is printed/written on.
not worth the paper something is printed on also not worth the paper something is written on
= to have no value or importance He's got a degree from an online university that's not worth the paper it's printed on. The landlord's promises were not worth the paper they were written on.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/not+worth+the+paper+is+printed+on
Solution 2:
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it
Not exactly a match as it's often used as a counter argument, but has the same feeling.
that terror list is a load of made up rubbish! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
Solution 3:
We'd say "I couldn't care less."
Note that it is properly "couldn't", and that this makes sense. People may say "could" instead if they are uneducated, illogical, or having speech problems.