Put your foot in your mouth

[0386] Get your head around it

🎲 Bend someone’s ear
English Idioms
All Idioms

Explanation

  • To successfully understand, comprehend, or accept something that is complex, difficult, confusing, or challenging to grasp mentally or emotionally.

Origin

  • Metaphorical. It evokes the image of trying to mentally encompass or 'wrap' one's mind around a large or complex idea or situation.
  • Implies a mental struggle or effort is required for comprehension or acceptance.
  • Became common from the mid-to-late 20th century onwards.

Synonyms & Related Expressions

  • Understand
  • Comprehend
  • Grasp
  • Figure out
  • Make sense of
  • Fathom (Often used in the negative: I can't fathom...)
  • Wrap your head around it (Very common alternative, especially US)
  • Come to grips with (Often implies dealing with a difficult reality)

Alternatives

Slang/Informal:

  • Figure it out
  • Crack it (Solve or finally understand a difficult problem)
  • Get it (Simple, direct)
  • It clicks / When it finally clicked (The moment of understanding)
  • Make heads or tails of it (Usually negative: Can't make heads or tails of it)

More Formal:

  • Comprehend fully
  • Grasp the concept/implications
  • Assimilate the information
  • Conceptualize
  • Gain clarity on

Situational Appropriateness

  • Informal to neutral.
  • Very common in everyday conversation, educational settings, and discussing complex problems at work.

Misunderstanding Warnings

  • Purely metaphorical. Not about physically moving one's head. Emphasizes the mental effort involved in understanding or acceptance.

Examples

  • The instructions are quite complicated; it took me a while to get my head around them.
  • I still can't get my head around the fact that they're moving away. (Emotional acceptance)
  • Can you explain that concept again? I'm having trouble getting my head around it.

Dialogue

Student: Professor, I'm finding this chapter on relativity really tough. I just can't seem to get my head around it.

Professor: It's definitely one of the more challenging topics. Which specific aspect are you struggling with? The time dilation part?

Student: Yes, exactly! The maths makes sense, but the concept itself feels impossible.

Professor: Okay, let's look at some thought experiments that might help visualize it.

Social Media Examples

  • Tweet: Trying to get my head around the latest AI developments. Mind = blown. 🤯 #AI #Tech #Future
  • Tech Forum: Newbie here. Can someone ELI5 (Explain Like I'm 5) this coding concept? Can't get my head around it. #programming #help
  • Facebook comment: Still trying to get my head around the ending of that series! So many questions! #TV #Finale

Response Patterns

  • I know, it's confusing. / It takes time.
  • What part specifically are you finding difficult?
  • Do you want me to try explaining it differently?
  • Yeah, it took me ages too.

Common Follow-up Questions/Actions

  • Asking for clarification or a simpler explanation.
  • Breaking the complex subject down into more manageable parts.
  • Seeking resources or further information to aid understanding.
  • Expressing the specific point of confusion or difficulty.

Conversation Starter

  • No. Describes the process or difficulty of understanding something specific.

Intonation

  • Stress usually on GET, HEAD, and aROUND.
  • I can't GET my HEAD aROUND it.

Generation Differences

  • Widely used and understood, particularly common among Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

Regional Variations

  • Extremely common in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand.
  • Also well-understood and used in North America, though wrap your head around it might be slightly more frequent there.
Put your foot in your mouth
🎲 Bend someone’s ear