Hearing Idioms

Happy New Year! I hope that the new year brings all of you new experiences, answered prayers, and good health.

Since May of last year, I have shared over 64 idioms with you in my articles and the quizzes. I hadn’t realized how many I had included in the past, until I looked at my list to prepare for this months article.

I hope, that by sharing all those idioms with you, that it has helped you to have a better understanding of those idioms and their meanings.

As you may already be aware of, each month I try to follow a particular theme. It could be related to a holiday in that month, news items, the weather, or just a topic in general.

This month, I thought I would write about ears. As an interpreter, and an advocate, I find myself in situations that I sometimes don’t believe my ears.

I know when a service provider is a little wet behind the ears when they continually say “tell him…” or “ask her…”

If a service provider states that they refuse to provide interpreting services to a d/Deaf client, I will then proceed to explain their responsibilities, and the d/Deaf person s rights to them.

Sometimes, they turn a deaf ear but most of the time, they will lend an ear and then agree to provide interpreting service.

It is music to my ears when service providers do this. Each situation brings new challenges, and I just have to play it by ear as no two situations are exactly the same. Unlike some of my past examples in my articles, unfortunately the above actually happens. We are all well aware of that, I am sure.

Since this is an article on idioms, let’s take a closer look at the idioms that I chose to use. I was not experiencing hearing problems myself when I stated that I couldn’t believe my ears.

I just wasn’t sure that what I had heard was actually being said. The phrase believe one’s ears means to believe what one hears; trust one’s hearing; to be made sure of something. Another way of saying this is believe one’s eyes which means to believe what one sees; trust one’s sight; to be made sure of something.

The informal phrase wet behind the ears does not imply that the person just got out of the shower or the pool. Its actual meaning is to not be experienced; not knowing how to do something; new in a job or place.

Just the opposite of wet behind the ears is the informal phrase dry behind the ears which means that the person is experienced; knowing how to do something.

It is usually used in a negative way, as in “He was new to the position, and was not dry behind the ears yet.” Our ears, whether we are d/Deaf or hearing, are securely attached to the sides of our heads. It is impossible to literally turn our ears, as the phrase turn a deaf ear may imply.

What it is really implying, is that the person is pretending not to hear; refuse to hear; or not pay attention. I tend to turn a deaf ear when my children are arguing <grin>.

Since our ears are securely attached, we can not remove them from the sides of our heads either. We can’t literally loan them, or give them, to someone. If we could, maybe we would trade them in for a smaller size or a different shape, if we were not happy with the ones that we had.

The phrase lend and ear or give an ear means to listen to someone. Friends do this, when they lend an ear to another friend, and listen to their concerns or problems. The service providers don’t sing their replies to me, agreeing to provide interpreting service.

There is no musical tune to their voice at all. I stated the phrase music to my ears, which means that it was something that I like to hear. Don’t we all like to hear that interpreting services will be provided when requested?

When someone says that they will play it by ear they don’t mean that they will be placing their boom box on their shoulder next to their ear.

In the situation where I stated the informal phrase play it by ear, I meant that I will decide what to do as I went along, whatever fit the situation.

Another way of using this phrase pertains to playing a musical instrument. In that situation, it would mean that the person was playing a musical instrument by remembering the tune, not by reading the music. I want to share with you something, that I was reminded of when using play it by ear in this article.

I believe it was two summers ago, a Deaf friend had signed play with one hand at the side of his head. Not sure if this was a new sign to me that I had never seen before, I asked what it meant. He then answered play it by ear.

I had to laugh, as I would never have thought of that myself. I realize that not everyone may understand what that means when signed, but thought it was a very clever way of using a hearing idiom.

Kind of like a play on words as we all know of some that have been created by those in Deaf Culture.

That is all for this month s article, and it is time to come to a close. Please continue to give me suggestions and feedback, as it is welcomed and appreciated. Until next month, take care and enjoy time with your loved ones and things that make you feel good about life. Terri R. Stonecipher aslpah@deafnation.com.