A: What are you up to lately?

    B: I have been trying to find out something about my ancestors, but I’m up a blind alley. I can’t find anything.

    Note: This idiom means “following a course of action that leads to no good outcome.” Alleys are blind if they have no “eye” or through passage — what might now be called a cul-de-sac. The image is clear: If you are in a blind alley, there is no way out. The phrase was first recorded in the 16th century. The figurative use of the term, that is, one where no actual alley was being referred to, came into use in the mid-19th century. It’s interesting to note that there is a similar phrase in Chinese, only that Chinese people say “dead alley” as if it’s a combination of “blind alley” and “dead end.”