A cat caught a mouse idioms in English

[vahit]

Hi everyone. In Turkish we have an idiom meaning someone is usually useless, unskilful and loser but once in a blue moon he-she could do a great job. In this situation we say you are a cat and caught a Mouse but what is the idiom version in English? I searched it dictionaries but I couldn't find it. Can you help me, please?

 

[Copyright]

Outside Turkey, cats catch mice all the time ... usually because they're good at it. So I think it's odd that to think that an animal that is useless, unskilled and a loser could occasionally catch a mouse (not that I'm trying to change your idiom).

I think this is more of a "sometimes even a failure succeeds" sort of idiom/maxim. Let me think.

First up: Even losers get lucky sometimes.

 

[Barque]

Perhaps not exactly what you mean but the one that comes to mind is Every dog has his day.
Every dog has its day

 

[fiercediva]

It sounds like an idiom in the same vein as

"Even a broken (or stopped) clock is right twice a day." or

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while".

 

[vahit]

Thank you all guys. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while" idiom is what I was looking for. At last I learned it. Thanks again...

 

[ewie]

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while".

I like it.
I've never heard it in my life, mind you

 

[Copyright]

I like it.
I've never heard it in my life, mind you

Ditto.

 

[heypresto]

These idioms seem easy enough to make up:

Even an elephant forgets his own name once in a while.

Even Michael McIntyre says something funny once in a while.

Even one of an infinite number of monkeys types the Complete Works of Shakespeare once every infinite number of years.

(Though perhaps this last one doesn't trip off the tongue as smoothly as the squirrel one does.)

 

[sound shift]

Ditto.

Ditto.

 

[pob14]

The "blind squirrel" one is exactly what came to mind when I read the OP (although it's "acorn" in my version). It must be AE-specific (and therefore I'm surprised Copyright hasn't heard it).

 

[Juhasz]

I've never heard it, either. Could more more regional than American.

 

[pob14]

Related thread, with some Google Books searches:

The blind squirrel and the nut

 

[Barque]

Thank you all guys. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while" idiom is what I was looking for. At last I learned it. Thanks again...

I think the stopped clock one fits your context better than the squirrel one. It specifically refers to people who are usually wrong. Your choice of course but thought I'd point it out.

 

[dojibear]

I like the other better. A blind squirrel who finds a nut has "done a great job", as OP says losers sometimes do. A broken clock does not function correctly for two minutes each day. It only seems to be right (by coincidence) for those minutes.

 

[london calling]

Ditto.

Ditto.

 

[Englishmypassion]

I like the other better. A blind squirrel who finds a nut has "done a great job"... A broken clock does not function correctly for two minutes each day. It only seems to be right (by coincidence) for those minutes.

I couldn't agree more.

(Sometimes even Emp answers correctly.
Sometimes even a poor/bad scientist invents something accidentally.)