Idiom request: an unacceptable amount of effort

Question

In German we have the idiom "doing handstands". It describes an unacceptably high amount of effort: The circumstances require it, but they themselves are considered unacceptable. Two examples:

1. Nowadays, pupils have such a short attention span that teachers need to do handstands to keep them engaged. - Pupils should not have such a short attention span; the fact that they have means something went wrong (e.g. in their upbringing).

2. Your API is so full of bugs that I had to do handstands to solve problem X (because I had to find workarounds for the bugs, but for the workarounds I had to use other API calls which were also buggy, so they required even more workarounds). - The API should not have that many bugs; the fact that it has means something went wrong (e.g. ever-changing unqualified programmers write it).

Some hints regarding the connotation of "doing handstands" in German as far as I know:

• You never do them out of free will. You do them out of necessity if you want to achieve something that requires them, but there is always a negative feeling about this, even if just subtly.

• They can be strenuous but they don't need to be. So doing handstands does not necessarily mean to work yourself to the point of exhaustion.

I am looking for an English equivalent.

Answer 1

Bend over backwards is another possibility, implying making strenuous efforts to achieve the desired result.

Answer 2

English also has an idiom for this that reminds one of acrobatics performed in a place like a circus: "to jump through hoops". From M-W:

to do a complicated or annoying series of things in order to get or achieve something

Here is a recent example:

In order for companies to gain a blue checkmark on their outgoing emails, they need to jump through a few hoops. First they need to setup BIMI for their account, then adopt Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), and finally they need to gain a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) issued by a Certification Authority. (Matthew Humphries, "Google Adds Blue Checkmark Verification to Gmail," PC Magazine, 4 May 2023)

This idiom doesn't necessary imply "unacceptability", but you could always modify it by saying "too many hoops", etc.

Answer 3

"Going to extreme lengths", Merriam-Webster seems to carry the meaning you want. "Going to great lengths" is also possible.

Your original "I had to do handstands" is also perfectly understandable in the examples you provided.

Answer 4

Move Mountains

The Collins Dictionary defines this as

to do something that seems impossible, particularly when love or a particular belief makes you feel determined to succeed

You’ll most commonly hear this in a sentence like “Love can move mountains.” (Michael Seifert reminds me of the very similar saying, “move Heaven and Earth.”)

In this context, you’d probably want to use it in a negative or sarcastic sense: “I shouldn’t have to move mountains just to get something installed.”

Answer 5

One way of expressing this is to use work oneself into the ground.

run[/work] oneself into the ground

[phrase of ground]

exhaust oneself; wear oneself out.

[Oxford Languages; courtesy of Google]

work (oneself) into the ground

To work oneself to the point of illness or exhaustion.

If you keep working 80-hour weeks, you'll work yourself into the ground sooner than later.

[Farlex Dictionary of Idioms]

Nowadays, pupils have such a short attention span that teachers are working themselves into the ground [trying] to keep them engaged.

Another, more informal (Christine Ammer, in The Dictionary of Clichés, labels this an 'inelegant locution': in an inappropriate register for your first example, at least) way of putting this is to use work one's tail/butt off.

work one's tail/butt off

To work excessively or to the point of exhaustion

To work (oneself) overly hard

[WordHippo]

Answer 6

Working one's arse off.

1. Nowadays, pupils have such a short attention span that teachers are working their arses off to keep them engaged.

2. Your API is so full of bugs that I had to work my arse off solving the problem.

Answer 7

I might consider this phrase, esp. in the case of the first example by the OP:

Make a song and dance

(To make) an unnecessary fuss; also, a misleading story or statement, nonsense. In the first sense this term dates from mid-nineteenth-century England, where it is usually put as nothing to make a song (and dance) about, meaning this is an unimportant matter. The second sense originated in America in the second half of the nineteenth century. Brander Matthews used it in A Confident Tomorrow (1900): “It ain’t a song and dance I’m giving you either.” The same old song and dance, on the other hand, refers to an overfamiliar, hackneyed routine, whether or not that happens to be an old familiar lie or excuse. See also same old rigmarole.

a song and dance. (n.d.) The Dictionary of Clichés. (2013). Retrieved May 7 2023 from https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+song+and+dance

Answer 8

Too Hard Basket

In Australia and New Zealand, there exists a metaphorical basket that tasks with insufficient payback for the effort expended get put into.

"He's put it in the too hard basket", or "I'm putting it in the too hard basket" is said day in, day out among engineering and trades staff.

Things in the too hard basket may get dealt with one day, but it is very rare to hear any reference to tasks being taken out of the basket; they just finally get done, or dealt with, confronted, etc.