too hard basket

English

Alternative forms

• too-hard basket

Etymology

By analogy with the "in" and "out" baskets used to organize paperwork.

Noun

too hard basket (plural too hard baskets)

1. A category of items that should be done but which are avoided because they are difficult.
   • 2007, Mary Moody, The Long Hot Summer, →ISBN:

     I have always had the ability to put difficult issues in the 'too hard basket' to avoid thinking about them and therefore to avoid having to deal with them.

   • 2012, Anthony Engel, Image Carriers, →ISBN:

     They didn't learn much about the Cereus flower and related species and couldn't work out what the name meant or if it meant anything at all. Either way, they decided to put it in their too hard baskets for now.

   • 2014, John Wright, Explaining Science's Success, →ISBN:

     It is a problem that many philosophers are perhaps inclined to put in the “too hard basket”.