can't fight City Hall

(You) can't fight city hall.

Fig. There is no way to win in a battle against a bureaucracy. Bill: I guess I'll go ahead and pay the tax bill. Bob: Might as well. You can't fight city hall. Mary: How did things go at your meeting with the zoning board? Sally: I gave up. Can't fight city hall.

can't fight City Hall

Unable to overcome bureaucratic rules, as in Brad couldn't get a permit without going through channels-you can't fight City Hall! This term transfers the seat of city government to a more general sense of bureaucracy in any sphere. [Mid-1800s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Alban	['ɔ:lbən]
Icarus	IK-ə-rəs (English)	Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Vratislav	-	Czech, Slovak, Medieval Slavic
Eugenius	-	Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Celina	tse-LEE-nah	Polish
Magda	MAHK-dah (German), MAHKH-dah (Dutch), MAHG-dah (Polish)	German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Polish, Croatian, Romanian, Portuguese