head-scratching
nounEtymology head + scratching, from the fact that many people scratch the side of their head when confused.
1
Idiomatic Confusion.
- […] Milly got out of her basket to reconsider the matter. It took some deliberation and head scratching to decide the best method; […]1869 April, Carl Bernard, “Milly’s Bossy”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XXIX, number 4 (number 172 overall), Boston, Mass.: Office American Union, Flag of Our Union, and Novelette, No. 63 Congress Street, →OCLC, pages 394–395:
- You remember what a lot of head-scratching the kings had to go through in order to raise money. When there was no extensive and well-developed system of taxation, they were never sure of getting enough cash where they needed it when they needed it.1936, Leo Huberman, “‘Gold, Greatness, and Glory’”, in Man’s Worldly Goods: The Story of the Wealth of Nations, New York, N.Y.: Monthly Review Press, →OCLC, page 134:
3 more examples
- [O]ne morning I just started writing about how Judy met JFK in the winter of '60, and it seemed to go pretty well – better, anyway, than the false starts and head scratchings that were all I had to show thus far.2010, Frederick [W.] Turner, The Go-between: A Novel of the Kennedy Years, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 293:
- It is possible to spend a long time looking at this inscription. An informal survey of scholars at the University of Chicago, all versed in Hebrew, suggests that the inscription is at once enticing and frustrating, not quite nonsensical enough for immediate dismissal, nor sufficiently cogent actually to yield a reading. Instead, "mystère admirable," it invites hours of fruitless headscratching. The beholder, in this situation, winds up in much the same situation as the Pharisees in the picture: pointing, puzzling, and conversing.2011, Richard [T.] Neer, “Poussin’s Useless Treasures”, in Herbert L[eon] Kessler, David Nirenberg, editors, Judaism and Christian Art: Aesthetic Anxieties from the Catacombs to Colonialism, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 347:
- And yet, arresting figures suggesting a decline in early season ratings have prompted an outbreak of soul‑searching at those broadcasters and head‑scratching among analysts.2016 October 24, Owen Gibson, “Is the unthinkable happening – are people finally switching the football off?”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2017:
- Synonyms
- bemusement, bewilderment
- Related terms
- beard-stroking, chin-stroking