Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus.) no chance at all.

1934

Northern Standard (Darwin) 2 Oct. 9/3: I assured my indignant friend [...] that he had as much hope of getting justice from the type of officialdom then in Darwin as he had of getting a grilled pork chop in a Jewish synagogue.

unpopular.

1925		Bathurst Times (NSW) 31 Dec. 2/6: The new Act governing hair-dressers is just about as popular with the Temora barbers as a pork chop is at a Jewish festival.
1929		Listening Post (Perth) 23 Aug. 7/2: His published remarks aroused a wild storm of protest, and on his return to the ‘Bendigo’ he found himself as popular as a pork chop in a synagogue.
1932		Western Mail (Perth) 22 Dec. 9/3: The brute was therefore just about as popular in Hannan-street as a pork chop in a Synagogue.
1933		Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW) 18 May 1/1: There’s a saying which runs ‘as popular as a pork chop at a Jewish breakfast’.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett (1959) 98: Jimmy Brockett is about as popular with Sadie's mother as a pork chop in a synagogue, but I didn't lose any sleep over it.
1951		Nat. Advocate (Bathurst) 18 May 1/1: Now that the ratepayers have received their inflated assessments the mention of a new baths for Bathurst is something akin to a pork chop at a Jewish festival.
1957		J.H. Hosking Aus. First and Last 105: He’s as popular as a prime pork chop is a synagogue.
1987		Dly Record 4 Apr. 40/4: The SFA decision [...] has proved about as popular as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2004		posting at discuss.glasgowguide.co.uk 29 Nov. 🌐 [George W. Bush] is too dumb to realise that he is as popular as a pork chop at a jewish wedding.
2005		posting at www.aulro.com 3 Dec. 🌐 After all your lorikeet jokes over the CB, my wife and daughter reckon you pair are about as popular as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] Only six months had passed since I had attacked the two screws [...] I would be as popular as a pork chop in a synagogue.
2009		Irish Indep. 29 Sept. 16/6: He’s about as popular with Travellers as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.

(US) completely unwanted, unthreatened.

1967

Sault Star (Sault Ste Marie) 18 Jan. 21/1: My bachelorhood was a safe as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.

irrelevant, superfluous, useless.

1978		Dly Mirror 10 Nov. 31/6: Players who have been included in English international squads prance about parks generally being as useful as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2006		posting at ‘Daily Truth’ at blogs.smh.com.au [blog] Prefer the old ‘useless as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding’ phrase.

unwelcome, completely superfluous or unwanted.

1976		Fenland Citizen (Wisbech) 7 Apr. 7/1: I felt as welcome as a snow storm at harvest time or a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2001		‘Gus Granlund’ posting 🌐 There were hundreds of darkys everywhere who all turned and stared as we walked past, making us shit our pants and feel about as welcome as a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2007		‘Letticia’ Body Worship 181: He looked like a pig in knickers [...] and proceeded to ignore me – which made me feel as welcome as pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
2007		Aus. Jewish News (Sydney) 12 Oct. 10/1: The expression ‘about as welcome as a pork chop at a bar mitzvah’ captures the essence of Jewish sensibility about pigs and their products.

(US) .

1972		Chicago Trib. 13 Feb. [magazine] 29/4: ‘Do you have to sit there with your arms like that? [i.e. folded] I feel like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
1992		Port Lincoln Times (SA) 18 June 4/1: Meanwhile, if a person lights a cigarette they are made to feel like a pork chop at a Jewish celebration.
1994		Dly Express 12 Oct. 43/5: I felt like a pork chop looking for a Jewish wedding.

to make a gross social faux pas, to behave inappropriately.

1979		Eve. Chron. (Newcastle) 28 Dec. 6/1: ‘I thought I’d go down like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding’.
1980		Arundel Sun (MD) 11 Sept. [Nightlife] 5/2: ‘I’m afraid that [i.e. a striptease by the male bar owner] would go over like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
1985		J. Sullivan ‘To Hull and Back’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] They’re going down like saveloys in a kibbutz.
1990		Tamworth Herald 16 Feb. 29/6: [O]ne new track [...] went down like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
1992		Gazette (Montreal)6 Dec. F8/4: ‘That one [i.e. a joke] went over like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding’.
2000		Indep. Rev. 22 Mar. 4: The ads [...] have gone down like a pork chop at a Bar Mitzvah.
2002		S. Brady Bradysmusic.co.uk 🌐 I began writing songs around 14ish but didn’t have the confidence to sing any of them at a gig until around 22ish. I started trying them out at pub gigs where although many went down like ‘A pork chop at a Jewish wedding’ I found that I was actually starting to be asked to sing some of them as requests!

(Aus.) in very great difficulties, in a most embarrassing situation.

1901		Sun (Kalgoorlie) 19 May 4/5: [H]is jokelet fell among them with the thud of a pork chop thrown into a crowded synagogue.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn).
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 87/1: like a pork chop in a synagogue inappropriate or ill at ease.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

superfluous, inappropriate.

1963		Port Lincoln Times (SA) 18 June 4/1: To some people, the bare idea of bathing in one’s birthday suit was like pork chops at a Jewish picnic.
1970		Standard-Speaker (Hazelton, PA) 4/4: ‘I was here last week and went over like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding’.
1979		Newcastle Eve. Chron. 28 Dec. 6/4: I thought I’d go down like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding.
1988		Canberra Times (ACT) 29 May 18/3: He made his presence felt in the midst of Australia’s frantic rock’n’roll boom and stood out like a pork chop at a bar mitzvah.
1998		MikeyCAD Home Page 9 Dec. 🌐 Bill upset him further by introducing an electronic drum set for the session, which he said ‘was like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding’; it was simply inappropriate.
2002		C. Neave ‘Popstars’ ChristopherNeave.com 🌐 Was it just me or did Davina stick out like a pork chop at a Jewish wedding?
2009		C. Deveny Free to a Good Home 15: I arrived to find Lady Fiona making like a pork chop in a synagogue in a room full of polyester, cheap shoes, chunky copper foils, tequila sunrises, bridesmaid’s back and girls called Cherie.

extremely rare.

1927		Leader (Orange, NSW) 24 Sept. 2/: Good light-weight jockeys are as scarce as pork chops at a Jewish wedding.
1929		Call News-Pictorial (Perth) 25 Oct. 10/3: [S]treet bookmakers are as popular with racing bodies as pork chops at a Jewish wedding,.
1987		Chatham News 17 July 38/1: [car advert] MONTEG0 16 L Clean as a whistle as rare as pork chops at a Jewish wedding! £3795.
1995		Manchester Eve. News 2 May 8/: [T]ickets for this season’s FA Cup final [...] are going to be as scarce as pork chops at a Jewish wedding.

(US) completely mute.

1970

Press (Atlantic City, NJ) 4 Jan. 47/1: What happened to the good old days when the Vice President was as silent as a pork chop salesman at a Jewish wedding?