pain in the neck

pain in the neck

Meaning

Anything that is particularly annoying, difficult, troublesome, inconvenient or irritating including a person, place, situation or thing.

Example Sentences

1. Mathematics is generally a real pain in the neck for most of the school and college students.
2. His sudden outbursts have made him a real pain in the neck and a socially unwanted person.
3. Writing long essays on uninteresting topics is a pain in the neck.
4. Although the work load increased but everyone was happy when Joe quit his job because he was a pain in the neck due to his abusive language.
5. I'm sorry but can you help me load these cartons in the truck. Lifting them alone is a pain in the neck.
6. Although environmental conservation is extremely important but industrialists generally view it is as a mere pain in the neck.
7. A know it all person is usually pain in the neck for everyone.

Origin

The exact origins for this idiom are not known however it seems to have some physical and medical background. This phrase originated around 1900 as a less vulgar replacement of the (by then) common phrase ‘pain in the butt and pain in the ass‘. As nobody would like to have pain in any of these body parts, these phrases started to associate difficult and annoying things that one would want to vanish immediately with bodily pain.

Synonyms

• pain in the ass
• pain in the butt