a tough row to hoe

a difficult situation to deal with The author said that he knew it would be a tough row to hoe when he began research for this book.

Informal

A difficult situation to endure.

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ennio	EN-nyo	Italian
Agnelli	[əg'neli:]
Krasimira	-	Bulgarian
Raluca	-	Romanian
Whittaker	['hwitəkə]
Roshni	-	Indian, Marathi, Hindi