It's a long road with no turns

[JPA77]

I have heard this idiom a few times, sometimes phrased as "It's a long road with no turning."

I've been hoping to find someone that could explain the meaning of this phrase to me. I've found a couple of guesses on the internet, but nobody who seems to really know.

I would appreciate any thoughts!

 

[philadelphia]

I have heard this idiom a few times, sometimes phrased as "It's a long road with no turning."

I've been hoping to find someone that could explain the meaning of this phrase to me. I've found a couple of guesses on the internet, but nobody who seems to really know.

I would appreciate any thoughts!

We French have the opposite idiom. A long road implies turnings, so this idiom could be turned into humour. The use of 'with/no' reveals the originality of the phrase.

 

[Raymott]

I have heard this idiom a few times, sometimes phrased as "It's a long road with no turning."

I've been hoping to find someone that could explain the meaning of this phrase to me. I've found a couple of guesses on the internet, but nobody who seems to really know.

I would appreciate any thoughts!

This is a thought; it's not authoritative.
It means "The road would seem longer than it is if there were no turns in it."
"A road without turns is [seems] very long".

As a proverb, I guess the meaning could be something like, "Life would be very boring if it didn't throw up some surprises occasionally" - i.e. "It's a long life with no surprises."
Or, sticking closer to the original, "It seems like such a long journey if there is nothing to break the monotony."

 

[Amigos4]

The sentence could also mean that once a journey begins there is no turning back.

 

[Tdol]

There are quite a few examples of it on the web as 'It's a long road that has no turn/turning', and a suggested meaning is to encourage people not to give up or lose hope when things aren't going well.

 

[BobK]

:up: 'Don't give up. Something will happen to change the [bleak] outlook.' It can also mean 'Don't expect a smooth passage, just because things are going well at the moment'. That is, in either case, 'Things are bound to change.'

b

 

[euncu]

Either I am a pessimist or I mistook "with no turning" for "with no turning back".
The below is what I understood when I first see it;
Once you are on the road there will be no chance for you to return. ( All bridges are burnt) or more plainly you're doomed. :-(

 

[BobK]

Either I am a pessimist or I mistook "with no turning" for "with no turning back".
The below is what I understood when I first see it;
Once you are on the road there will be no chance for you to return. ( All bridges are burnt) or more plainly you're doomed. :-(

Quite reasonable - that's a more common use of 'with' (though if I meant that I'd use a comma).

b

 

[phras.in]

Sounds like a boring job or task that requires lots of time and patience to be completed.