The phrase “until the cows come home” means for a very long time or forever. It is usually used to describe something that is futile, unproductive, or endless. For example, you can say “You can argue until the cows come home, but you won’t change my mind” or “He can play video games until the cows come home, but he won’t get any smarter”.
The origin of this phrase comes from the slow and leisurely pace of cows returning to their barns after grazing. The first recorded use of this phrase was in 1593, in a French teaching textbook by John Eliot. Later, it became more popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially in American English. Some variations of this phrase are “till the cows come home”, “when the cows come home”, and “before the cows come home”.
