I can't think of a word for the jam itself, but the word for those that cause the unneccesary traffic jam would be a "Rubbernecker" or a "Lookie Loo (Lou?)"...the idiots that slow down the "unaffected" side of the roadway by slowing down to stare at the accident on the affected side of the road.

I need a word for an unneccesarily lengthy airport layover - anyone got one in their language?

In Slovak there's a phrase 'You can go complain at the lamp house', in Hungarian '... at the salt office' which means there's no one to turn to, complain to, every complaint would be in vain.

Is there an English phrase for such a situation?

Go tell it to the birds/trees/yo mama/someone who cares...

but this is more for a situation where you think the person's complaint is whiny rather than specifically for when there is no solution.

There's also "Tell it to the judge"...used mostly by police officers and mothers. :)

..."salt office." Hahahaha. :D

as it happens mo just came a cross this resently:::
 

Salt of the earth
The exact meaning of the expression salt of the earth is disputed, in part because salt had a wide number of uses in the ancient world. There are several different possibilities for the originally intended meaning of the salt metaphor:

Exodus, Ezekiel, and Kings present salt as a purifying agent
Leviticus, Numbers, and Chronicles present it as a sign of God's covenant.
The most important use of salt was as a preservative[dubious – discuss] and hence the most common interpretation of the metaphor is as asserting the duty to preserve the purity of the world.
In the Rabbinic literature of the period salt was a metaphor for wisdom.
Salt was a minor but essential ingredient in fertilizer and so a few scholars such as Gundry believe that earth should be translated as soil (i.e. salt of the soil), and hence the metaphor asserts that the audience should help the world grow and prosper.[2]
One interpretation of salt of the earth is that it orders the audience to take part in the world rather than withdraw from it
Among the ancient Hebrews salt...was used as a preservative, in seasoning food, and in all animal sacrifices. Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24; Mark 9:49–50. So essential was it to the sacrificial ordinance that it was the symbol of the covenant made between God and His people in connection with that sacred performance. Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5. [3]
~wiki pedia

When you open your mouth far too wide and the skin at the corners of your mouth breaks and stings and hurts like hell, wotsit?

angular cheilitis

schtrabies

There's a military-ism "Tell it to the chaplain" or "Here's a chit for the chaplain" (a chit is a piece of paper), that's very close to meaning what you're talking about, but I'm not sure what kind of currency it has in the vastness of civilian life.

A phrase from romantic entanglements has gained some traction in other situations, though: "Here's a quarter, call someone who cares."

But probably "Well, you can't fight City Hall" has more of the "salt office" tone -- a sympathetic nod and an acknowldegement that nothing can be done, but it's not a "go tell it to ..." phrase.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9vpOfexDao

It's not quite the same, in that there's no specifically useless person or department recommended, and since it started out as a blow-off for unfaithful lovers, it still has that blow-off flavor, instead of the faint whiff of sympathy that "Tell it to the chaplain" has.

^ That's nice. :)

FTC Says Scammers Stole Millions, Using Virtual Companies

"The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has disrupted a long-running online scam that allowed offshore fraudsters to steal millions of dollars from U.S. consumers -- often by taking just pennies at a time.

The scam, which had been run for about four years years, according to the FTC, provides a case lesson in how many of the online services used to lubricate business in the 21st century can equally be misused for fraud.

"It was a very patient scam," said Steve Wernikoff, a staff attorney with the FTC who is prosecuting the case. "The people who are behind this are very valmeticulous."


:confused:

I like the sound of it, to be sure...kind of a cross between "Valmont" (as in Vicomte Sebastien de) and "meticulous." Very specific and quite apt, given the circumstances of its usage. I don't believe it is a bonafide English word to date, however. I wonder how it came to be in the article? A misprint? A malaprop?

I think I'm going to start using it.

but what does it mean? does it mean the same as meticulous?

or is val short for valediction? meaning we take your money and goodbye

I have no idea. Not in the dictionary. I expect is is a misprint of some sort, but it's a fortuitous one...shrewd, thieving, devious meticulousness.