pain in the neck

First attested in the 1920s.

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pain in the neck (plural pains in the neck)

1. (idiomatic, slang) Someone or something which is annoying, irritating or inconvenient.

   Synonyms: pain in the ass, pain in the butt, pest, nuisance

   • 1923, P. G. Wodehouse, Leave It to Psmith‎^[1], London, page 188:

     Got to know McTodd, found he wasn’t coming to the castle, and came down instead of him, same as me. Only he got there first, damn him! Wouldn’t that give you a pain in the neck!”

   • 2022 November 19, Clarence Page, “Sometimes offensive comedy is just lazy laughs”, in Chicago Tribune‎^[2]:

     OK, call me a hypersensitive liberal, if you want. It wouldn’t be the first time. I can be a pain in the neck about racial, ethnic and religious bias sometimes, but I think it’s better to be hypersensitive than insensitive.

• Bartlett Jere Whiting (1989) Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, page 471