Suchst Du auf Englisch?

Oh, sorry, yes.

No need to say sorry, CM2DD ;-) I just wanted to make sure ...

far-fetched?

(Mind you, CM2DD, I think your own suggestion are anything from fine to perfect.)

presumptuous?
(apart from the ones I suggested in the other thread)

oder auch "hubris, thy name is (person who made the ridiculous statement)"

Would anyone else say "That's straining it"?

And what comparison might you use? That link's as thin/weak as ...?

#5: apart from the ones I suggested in the other thread

Where's the other thread? :-O

@#6: Would anyone else say "That's straining it"?

Yes.

Also "That's pushing it."

And what comparison might you use? That link's as thin/weak as ...?

(I stumble over your use of "link" here, although I know what you mean. I suppose because of its Net use.)

"That connection's about as flimsy as your négligée."
"That connection's as tenuous as they come."
"That connection's as weak as can be."

@#7: Where's the other thread?

Other thread:

related discussion: weit hergeholt (of link/comparison)

I like that flimsy.

Thanks for all the ideas. Still can't help thinking there's something else I've forgotten - but it might just be, as I sometimes find, that the phrase at the back of my mind is in German, and is possibly even the very one I was trying to translate in the first place :-D

And what comparison might you use? That link's as thin/weak as

as weak as a really weak thing is our usual cop-out when we can't really think of a proper comparison. Or non-comparisons such as "as weak as a cucumber/pancake/house on fire"...

(a bit) desperate might be another word I'd use in the circumstances.

I say "That's stretching it."
It seems to be a trope on sitcoms to something like "If by 'Buckingham Palace' you mean 'one-bedroom dump near the train tracks with an avocado-green kitchen from the 50s" or however you choose to sarcastically describe the inferior house.

I'd say:
Yup, like two peas in a pod!
Uncanny!
:)

:-))

That's a bit rich!
Yeah, sure!
You wish! / In your dreams!
That's a shonky/dodgy/wild/... comparison
That's going a bit far
That's pushing it (a bit)

shonky? :-) Nie gehört. Woher kommt das?

#15: shonky? :-) Nie gehört. Woher kommt das?

I was wondering that, too, and thought it might be Australian (cf. Everytime's profile). And, what's more: Dictionary: shonky

:-)

Vielleicht: a preposterous comparison?

Das war jedenfalls das erste, was mir in den Sinn kam - bin allerdings kein AE/BE Native Speaker...

"Really.
"That wouldn't have been exactly the first thing that came to mind."

"Ah.
"Which Buckingham Palace were you thinking of again?"

(-;

In another case where there really is some reason to take the argument or the speaker more seriously, if not the particular example, maybe

That's really pushing it.
That's a little much.
That's really over the top.
That's an exaggeration.
I think you're blowing things out of proportion.
That comparison seems pretty forced / strained.
I don't think that comparison really holds water / holds up.
That comparison is out of place / inappropriate.
That's really straining / that's a bit of a strain. (but not 'straining it,' I don't think)

If the comparison can't be taken seriously at all, you could just say it's ludicrous, ridiculous, silly, patently untrue ...

'Tenuous' seemed fine for the Mozart example, or a step further, maybe artificial, spurious, inauthentic ...

The last category might be where the comparison is actually beyond the pale, appalling, pathological -- like the example with Tadic in the other thread comparing Serbians to real catastrophe victims. In that case you wouldn't even dignify the statement by responding to it, or would just say that it's highly offensive and utterly irrational.

Looking at the LEO-translation for shonky (thanks KinkyAfro) -
what about dubious?
 
That's a dubious claim/comparison

Or

Come on! *Then repeating the tenuous assertion in an incredulous voice*
Are you serious?

#18 nothing dubious about it - Buck House is on a roundabout and has a back garden

vague.
fatuous is a word I am a bit too fond of, weak, lame or trivial in some circs - far too general, commonplace

.

B might say "And I'm the Queen of Sheba."