{"id":7241,"date":"2019-11-13T17:13:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T22:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/?p=7241"},"modified":"2022-02-11T00:32:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T05:32:16","slug":"11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Idioms for Talking About Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

One way to improve your English is by limiting your use of overused adjectives like confused <\/em>or confusing.<\/em><\/p>\n

What can you say instead? Try one of these 11 idioms.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in learning more idioms, check out the\u00a0idioms and phrasal verb section<\/a> of the site.<\/p>\n

mixed up (adj.), mix-up (n.)<\/h2>\n

If you are mixed up<\/em> about something, it means that you are confused.<\/p>\n

“Whenever we change the clocks for daylight savings time, I get mixed up and can’t figure out what time it is.”<\/p>\n

“I’m a little mixed up. Is our meeting on Thursday or Friday?”<\/p>\n

Mixed up<\/em> can also mean to think that one person or thing is another person or thing. (MacMillan Dictionary<\/a>)<\/p>\n

“The server mixed up our orders. My salad and my wife’s cheeseburger went to another table.”<\/p>\n

“I’m sure parents of twins can eventually tell their kids apart, but I can’t imagine not getting them mixed up when they are newborns.”<\/p>\n

We can also use mix-up<\/em> as a noun to talk about a confusing situation, usually one that results from confusing one thing\/person with another.<\/p>\n

“You may have seen in the news that a vaccine mix-up led to many children getting the wrong shots at a local hospital.”<\/p>\n

“Realizing he was innocent, the police apologized for the mix-up and released the man from custody.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
People may get mixed up and not be able to tell these two apart. (Photo by 1035352 from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to be all Greek to someone<\/h2>\n

To be all Greek to someone<\/em> is an expression we use to explain that someone doesn’t understand anything, usually because the topic is beyond their comprehension.<\/p>\n

“My roommates are talking about their engineering homework and I can’t understand anything they’re saying. It’s all Greek to me.”<\/p>\n

“You’ll have to help us understand these accounting documents. Our background is in biology, so this is all Greek to us.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Unless you know Greek, you won’t be able to make much sense out of this. (Photo by Edward Lich from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

clear as mud<\/h2>\n

If something is clear as mud<\/em>, it means that it is very confusing and hard to understand.<\/p>\n

“The assembly instructions that came with this bookshelf are clear as mud. Here, take a look. Can you make any sense out of this?”<\/p>\n

“Does everyone know how to get to the event tomorrow? How were my directions? Clear as mud?”<\/p>\n

\"\"
As you may have noticed, mud isn’t particularly clear. (Photo by Lirinya from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to throw someone off\/to be thrown off<\/h2>\n

If something throws you off<\/em>, it confuses you or causes you to lose your concentration, get something wrong, or be misled. We can also say that someone is thrown off <\/em>by something.<\/p>\n

“Their money laundering scheme is so complicated that it’s been throwing off the authorities for years.”<\/p>\n

“I get thrown off every time this software updates. Nothing is where I expect it to be.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Criminals often use complicated money laundering schemes to throw off the authorities. (Photo by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to throw someone off balance\/to be thrown off balance<\/h2>\n

To throw someone off balance<\/em> means to confuse or upset someone for a short time by saying or doing something that they are not expecting. (Cambridge Dictionary<\/a>) We can also say that someone is thrown off balance<\/em> by something.<\/p>\n

“In high school, there was always that one kid in every class who would ask difficult questions to try to throw the teacher off balance.”<\/p>\n

“I thought I would get the promotion for sure. I was thrown off balance when the company went with an outside hire instead.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Whatever he is reading looks like it just threw him off balance. (Photo by bruce mars from Pexels<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to throw someone for a loop\/to be thrown for a loop<\/h2>\n

To throw someone for a loop<\/em> means to cause someone to be very amazed, confused, or shocked. (Merriam Webster<\/a>)<\/p>\n

“Mike spent his whole life talking about how he wanted to be a doctor, so we were thrown for a loop when he dropped out of med school.”<\/p>\n

“It always throws me for a loop when I hear British actors speaking with an American accent on screen.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
When traveling to other countries, you might be thrown for a loop by some of the cultural differences you experience. (Photo by TheAndrasBarta from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to mess with someone’s head<\/h2>\n

To mess with someone’s head<\/em> means to cause someone to feel confused, frustrated, upset, or anxious.<\/p>\n

“Have you ever see the move Inception<\/em>? It really messes with your head. I still can’t figure out what happened.”<\/p>\n

“When I was in elementary school and middle school, I loved math. Then I took algebra in high school, and all the variables and equations really messed with my head.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
These Penrose triangles mess with people’s heads. (Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to not be clear on something<\/h2>\n

If you are not clear on something<\/em>, it means that you don’t fully understand something.<\/p>\n

“After Obamacare passed in the United States, not everyone was clear on how the new laws would affect them.”<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to do an effective job when we’re not clear on what our job functions are. Management needs to do a better job communicating our objectives to us.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Don’t sign a contract unless you’re absolutely clear on the details of it. (Photo by Free-Photos from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

to scratch one’s head\/head-scratching<\/h2>\n

To scratch one’s head <\/i>means to think hard about something or to have difficulty understanding something. (Cambridge Dictionary<\/a>)\u00a0We can also use head-scratching<\/em> as both an adjective and noun to talk about something that is confusing.<\/p>\n

“All the plot twists in the TV show left viewers scratching their heads.”<\/p>\n

“He wasn’t the best coach, and fans will remember him for his controversial, head-scratching decisions.” (used as an adjective)<\/p>\n

“After a lot of head-scratching, our software developers were able to identify the problem and work on a solution.” (used as a noun)<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For more idiomatic expressions, see these\u00a0articles on idioms and phrasal verbs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11 essential idioms for talking about confusion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n11 Idioms for Talking About Confusion - Get More Vocab.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11 Idioms for Talking About Confusion - Get More Vocab.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"11 essential idioms for talking about confusion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Get More Vocab.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T22:13:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T05:32:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/greek-887735_1920-e1635803160412.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bradford Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bradford Jones\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bradford Jones\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b3ff79b0022567f21852f3b7adf9cf92\"},\"headline\":\"11 Idioms for Talking About Confusion\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-13T22:13:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-11T05:32:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\"},\"wordCount\":1070,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b3ff79b0022567f21852f3b7adf9cf92\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/greek-887735_1920-e1635803160412.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Idioms and Phrasal Verbs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\",\"name\":\"11 Idioms for Talking About Confusion - Get More Vocab.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/greek-887735_1920-e1635803160412.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-13T22:13:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-11T05:32:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/11-idioms-for-talking-about-confusion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/greek-887735_1920-e1635803160412.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/getmorevocab.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/greek-887735_1920-e1635803160412.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":525,\"caption\":\"Not too many people know how to make sense of this. 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