Kathleen Mavourneen

Etymology
With reference to a popular Irish ballad, , which includes the line “It may be for years, and it may be forever.”

Noun

 * 1)  indefinite; which may not have an end for years, if ever
 * 2) * 1888, Chauncey M. Depew, in a speech published in Orations, Addresses and Speeches in 1910 by John Denison Champlin (editor):
 * There is a sort of loan with which I have been made familiar that might be called a Kathleen Mavourneen loan &mdash; it may be for a year and it may be forever, but the promises made by the Huguenots were for a year and were forever and were redeemed every day.
 * 1) * 1965, Parliamentary Debates of the Western Australia parliament:
 * The Hon. F. R. H. Lavery: That is a Kathleen Mavourneen undertaking.
 * The Hon. A. F. GRIFFITH: It is not.
 * The Hon. F. R. H. Lavery: Past experience has shown that so many things have been promised but have not eventuated.
 * The Hon. A. F. GRIFFITH: It is not.
 * The Hon. F. R. H. Lavery: Past experience has shown that so many things have been promised but have not eventuated.