tryin

like trying to scratch your ear with your elbow

Extremely difficult; seemingly impossible. Keeping this business afloat in this economy is like trying to scratch your ear with your elbow. Working a full-time job while raising three young kids on your own is like trying to scratch your ear with your elbow—you're better off finding someone who can give you a hand.
See also: ear, elbow, like, scratch, trying
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

like tryin' to scratch your ear with your elbow

Rur. impossible. Getting those kids to settle down is like tryin' to scratch your ear with your elbow. Fixing all the leaks in that old roof is like tryin' to scratch your ear with your elbow.
See also: ear, elbow, like, scratch
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • like tryin' to scratch your ear with your elbow
  • like trying to scratch your ear with your elbow
  • bend (one's)/the elbow
  • bend elbow
  • bend one’s elbow
  • bend the elbow
  • bend your elbow
  • crook (one's)/the elbow
  • crook one's elbow
  • elbow (one) out of (something)
References in classic literature
Now, if I sawght yehs tryin' work me fer drinks, wouldn' buy damn t'ing!
Maggie A Girl of the Streets
If yer don't know de guy, and he's tryin' to do de Johnny act, say de word, and I'll call a cop in t'ree minutes.
"De lady says dat she's on to de fact dat gals is dead easy when a feller comes spielin' ghost stories and tryin' to make up, and dat's why she won't listen to no soft-soap.
The Four Million
God knows I's ignorant an' poor; but," she added, "I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do.
Up From Slavery
"Well," at length spoke the tattered man, "there ain't no use in our stayin' here an' tryin' t' ask him anything."
Red Badge of Courage
Why, I see 'm tryin' to tell me sometimes so hard that he almost busts.
Michael Brother of Jerry
Yer hands don't shake, and yer eyes don't look as if ye was tryin' ter hold back the Angel o' Death himself, when you're jest doin' yer DUTY, Mr.
Pollyanna
"He ain't tryin' his hardest, an' Red-head's just bustin' himself."
"The judges are tryin' to make him give the money back," Bert explained.
The Valley of the Moon
"It's jest no use tryin' to keep Miss Eva here," he said to Mammy, whom he met a moment after.
Uncle Toms Cabin
I've overheard enough to make me think he's tryin' to get her to run off with him." Hanson, to fit his own ends, hit nearer the truth than he knew.
Son Of Tarzan
"My father he run his packet, an' she was a kind o' pinkey, abaout fifty ton, I guess, - the Rupert, - he run her over to Greenland's icy mountains the year ha'af our fleet was tryin' after cod there.
Captains Courageous
"'I'm tryin' to tell you-all because I thought you-all ought to know,' says the tenderfoot.
Burning Daylight
My name's Dawson, Joe Dawson, an' I'm tryin' to scare up a laundryman."
Martin Eden
"There's a whole lotta people tryin' to mess with your mind," she sings, in "Feel Good." "When you were just a little child they filled you in with every sin they could find/Tellin' you it's wrong to want my good lovin'/One way for you to know for sure/Does it feel good baby?
Another Summer of Love