hill of beans

a hill of beans

Something of little or no importance, value, or worth. For all the congressman's posturing about overhauling the tax system, his plan to do so is just a hill of beans.
See also: bean, hill, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

hill of beans

A negligible amount. This phrase is most often heard as “that doesn't amount to a hill of beans.” The underlying idea is that beans are so common that even a hill of them isn't worth very much, if anything at all. The Yiddish word for “beans” is “bupkes,” which has been adopted into American English to mean “absolutely nothing.” You'll hear it at card games and racetracks when a disgusted player tosses in his hand or tears up a losing pari-mutuel ticket with an exasperated “I got bupkes.”
See also: bean, hill, of
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • a hill of beans
  • be not worth a hill of beans
  • hill of beans, doesn't amount to a/not worth a
  • not worth a hill of beans
  • not worth a hill of beans and not amount to a hill of beans; not ...
  • rank with
  • rank with (someone or something)
  • rate with
  • rate with (someone or something)
  • (one) doesn't give a rip (about something)
References in periodicals archive
Their pressures don't amount to a hill of beans against our pressures.
No sympathy for the 'pressures' of football
No amount of study will make me understand the British Champions Series - it doesn't work and I don't know of anybody (outside GBR employees) who thinks it worth a hill of beans.
Champions Day has become a real winner; STEAMING David Yates gets it off his chest
Leaving aside the discussion over whether newspaper endorsements amount to more than a hill of beans, especially a Monitor endorsement in the GOP primary (you think the Maggie Hassan editorial's already written for Nov.?), the paper made a gallant effort to list its reasons for support WH over Andrew Hemingway.
Jobs report
Without your heroic failures, Andy Murray's fleeting glory wouldn't have amounted to a Henman Hill of beans.
Mice thought
While Heather Joseph proclaimed that open access is the norm, publishers still behaved as though their $9 billion journals business was something more than a hill of beans. The world wants all-digital all the time, but publishers engage in bizarre technological fetishism over the printing press.
'Is there anything more slow-moving than a publisher?'
Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
I love you. You're my only reason to stay alive..if that's what I am Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) The Twilight Saga: New Moon, 2009; VALENTINE'S SPECIAL THE LINES THAT BROUGHT ROMANCE TO THE BIG SCREEN
But like the politician in the joke, their words amount to little more than a hill of beans.
Hollow words and promises
No finger pointing, please: Apparently the work the Ahmadi-nejad Administration said it did to save Lake Urumiyeh didn't amount to a hill of beans and the Rohani Administration has launched a review to determine what needs to be done.
No finger pointing, please
Successful people know that their good intentions don't add up to a hill of beans. Actions make the difference in their results.
The 5 Success Disciplines
Phoenix, AZ, August 02, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Sandy Abalos, managing partner of Abalos & Associates, PLLC (http://www.abaloscpa.com), has announced that the company will compete in the 14th annual Hill of Beans Food Drive competition, collecting food and funds through Wednesday, Aug.
Abalos & Associates to Participate in St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance Food Drive
But a 2011 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that government policies designed to eliminate food deserts by encouraging grocery stores to open in poor neighborhoods or expand their produce offerings won't amount to a hill of beans.
Dessert in the desert: food policy myth
Whatever you do, don't tell Coldplay's singer-songwriter Chris Martin that the problems of two little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Coldplay gets cheesy with `Mylo Xyloto'
Does all this amount to anything more than a hill of beans? Well, we know from previous press visits to Ballydoyle, before the barricades went up a few years ago, that the best three-year-olds co-mingle with older horses in one large yard.
Stable form has to be a concern for So You Think fans
I told Ebers I didn't think I would go, as the only thing I could shoot was a compound, to which he threatened me with harsh, colorful verbiage and reiterated they wanted me there and it didn't matter a hill of beans what I shot.
Revisiting old bows
The curriculum and textbooks that we adopt aren't worth a hill of beans if they don't prepare kids for college and career success.
Guest Column: Please, No More State Board of Embarrassment