Word.ws English Dictionary

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery phrase: is unable even to organise a project that requires no planning; is incompetent; used to describe someone as greatly incompetent.

Phrase

couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery

  1. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK, idiomatic, slang) Is unable even to organise a project that requires no planning; is incompetent; used to describe someone as greatly incompetent.
    • “Deladrieux should have stayed an accountant,” Murphy sighed. “He's got three people working for him but they're just administrative clerks, pencil-pushers, they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery. That's what you get when you assign engineering jobs to non-engineers.[…]”2006, G. C. Lemans, Chantier: A tribute to the world's engineers and their partners in life, page 60
    • 'It'll be a sad day when the British leave. You lot couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery without the Queen, God bless her'.2023 January 28, Martin Thiebaut, The Nomad Letters, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN

Synonyms of couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery

Origin of couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery

Presents an example of a minimally simple project that the person or group described is presumed unable to accomplish.

Questions about couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery

What does couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery mean?
Couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery means is unable even to organise a project that requires no planning; is incompetent; used to describe someone as greatly incompetent.
What part of speech is couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery?
Couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery is a phrase.

Words near couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery in the dictionary

  1. couldn't have cared less
  2. couldn't help
  3. couldn't help but
  4. couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery
  5. couldn't organise a chook raffle
  6. couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
  7. couldn't organise a two-ticket raffle
  8. couldn't organise an orgy in a brothel
  9. couldn't piss a hole in the snow
  10. couldn't pour water out of a boot
  11. couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.ogg.

Cite this entry: “couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/couldn%27t_organise_a_piss-up_in_a_brewery. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.