a crying shame
Something that is problematic and inopportune. It's a crying shame that the car just died—I planned to give it to you some day.
crying shame
Fig. a very unfortunate situation; a real shame. It's a crying shame that people cannot afford adequate housing. That your father could not attend graduation was a crying shame.
crying shame, a
An unfortunate situation, as in It's a crying shame that Bob can't find a job. This term may well come from the now obsolete to cry shame upon, meaning "express vigorous disapproval or censure," current from about 1600 to the mid-1800s.