Fig.: to undertake a difficult and pointless task

You'd better stop watering that plant because you are just shoeing the goose: that plant is dead, gone, kaput!

Smetti di innaffiare quella pianta perché stai solo ferrando l'oca: quella pianta è morta, andata, kaput!

John Skelton says that the attempt of the laity to reform the clergy of his time is about as mad a scheme as if they attempted to shoe a wild goose: "What hath laymen to doe, The gray gose to shoe!"

Secondo John Skelton, il tentativo dei laici di riformare il clero dell'epoca era un'impresa assurda come voler ferrare un'oca: "What hath laymen to doe, The gray gose to shoe!"