Dictionary

rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The Titanic was an ocean liner that sank on the morning of April 15, 1912 after striking an iceberg. The phrase rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic implies trying to move the chairs on the deck around while the ship is sinking, a pointless activity.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To do something pointless or insignificant that will soon be overtaken by events, or that contributes nothing to the solution of a current problem.
   • "And then you write, ‘Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.’ First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!" 2006 April 29, Stephen Colbert, White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Washington, D.C.:
   • Inevitably, people have suggested that pulling a move to restore Cameron to the frontline is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, but arguably that doesn’t really cover it. 2023 November 14, Marina Hyde, “Rewarding failure? With David Cameron’s return, it’s being celebrated like never before”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2023:
   • All the new people want an office close to the President's. You should see them scramble. It's like fighting for a deck chair on the Titanic. 1969 January 17, Nan C. Robertson, quoting Elizabeth Carpenter, “White House Memories Recalled By Mrs. Johnson's Press Aide”, in New York Times, page 18:
   • I'm not going to rearrange the furniture on the deck of the Titanic. 1976 May 16, Rogers Morton, quotee, Washington Post:
   • Administrators are running around straightening out deck chairs while the Titanic goes down. 1972 May 15, Joseph Eger, “Listening to the Vibes”, in New York Times, page 34:
   • Gordon Brown's decision to redefine Britain's economic cycle has been damned by one of the City's most influential economic forecasters, which accuses the Chancellor of the Exchequer of doing little more than "moving the deckchairs on the Titanic". 2005 July 24, Business Online:

Forms

Relateds

fiddle while Rome burns · count angels on pinheads

Synonyms

move the deckchairs on the Titanic · shuffle the deckchairs on the Titanic · shuffle the chairs on the deck of the Titanic · shift the deckchairs on the Titanic

wikipedia: Titanic