Street voices
Hugues
·
United States
"Having your head up your ass, something you say to or about someone that's being very obtuse, stubborn, or just plain ignorant. Look, I just think what you're saying is a bunch of bullshit. Ugh, you know what? I give up. Nothing I say is getting through to you. You just have your head way up your ass, so come talk to me once you pull it out, all right?"
What it means
It means someone is being clueless, stubborn, or so buried in their own nonsense that plain reality can't get through. It's a blunt, rude insult for a person who's impossible to reason with, not somebody who just made one dumb mistake. Very common in everyday American English when your patience is fully fried.
Usage examples
"Man, I showed him the receipts, the texts, the whole mess, and he still blamed aliens. His head is so far up his ass it is unreal."
"He's been having his head up his ass about the deadline, swears it's next month when it was yesterday."
"Stop having your head up your ass and read the room, nobody here finds that funny anymore."
"I tried explaining it three different ways, and he still doubled down. Dude's got his head up his ass."
"She's got her head up her ass if she thinks everyone else is the problem and she's just magically fine."
Where it comes from
This one's built from the older insult have one's head up one's ass, which has been around in American English since at least the second half of the 1900s. The image does all the heavy lifting: somebody's so stuck inside their own viewpoint that they can't see, hear, or think straight.
Editors of this term
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