long run for a short slide

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

long run for a short slide

1. A large expenditure of effort for a modest benefit.
   • 1973, The Washingtonian‎^[1], volume 8, page 98:

     “We don't give them or go to them unless asked by good friends, and as far as being a source of news,“ added the journalist, “I've never gotten one good story from a dinner party in my life. In that respect they're a long run for a short slide."

   • 2004, Arnold Arem, In Our Hands: A Hand Surgeon's Tales of the Body's Most ...‎^[2], page 204:

     For a small burn, with plenty of the patient's own skin available, allograft application is a long run for a short slide.

   • 2013, Elizabeth Becker, Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism‎^[3], page 339:

     The tour lasted exactly thirty minutes. Bill said that the trip was “a long run for a short slide.”