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After 100 years the painting of the Forth Rail bridge is to come to an end, depriving the English language of one its most treasured similes. With three coats of a special paint, similar to that used in the offshore oil industry, painting of the bridge is due to be completed in four years. The paint has an estimated life-span of 25 years, although it is hoped it will last closer to 40 years.
But what Network Rail, the owners of the Forth Bridge, stands to gain in productivity, the English language could lose a cherished aphorism.
According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms, if "repairing or improving something is like painting the Forth Bridge, it takes such a long time that by the time you have finished doing it, you have to start again".