Ear Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘cake’ and now look at ‘ear’.

Ears burning meaning someone is talking about you is first mentioned in the writings of Pliny, 1948 years ago. Note historically itching has also been seen as a sign. And if you think that’s daft, what about having your ears pierced would improve your eyesight? It was a common belief until at least the 1880s.

Nobody was described as ‘wet behind the ears’ until 1902….

However, the walls have had ears since at least 1610.

Thje handle of a pitcher has been known as an ‘ear’ since around the middle of the 15th century.

Earrings have been worn for millennia, but not described as such until the 17th century.

Nobody got an earful until 1944 – this coming to Britain from Australian slang.

The tympanic membrane is first referred to as the eardrum in 1640.

Nobody wore an earplug until 1841.

Earmuffs are first described in 1859.

In the 1650s we first see a comment about the curled or turned over pages of a book being called ‘dog-eared’.

Earworm is first seen in 1855 when it referred to a parasite infecting corn; the following year it also appears as an alternative name for the earwig; in 1881 it described a ‘secret counselor’; and finally in 1989 was used to speak of any annoying song or refrain which one cannot get out of their head.

Earlobes have only been known as such since 1786.

Nobody had earache until 1789 – or rather it was not described as such until then; which does not help us know what it was known at prior to that.

Earwigs have been known as such since Saxon times – the suffix comes from the Germanic wicga meaning ‘beetles, insect, worm’, and has also given us the word ‘wiggle’ to describe the movements of such creatures. Note this may be named because of the ancient and widespread belief that earwigs will crawl into ears, but in the whole of recorded history there has not been a single confirmed example of Forficula auricularia ever being found in any ear – human or otherwise. Of more interest is the discovery that in the middle of the 17th century, northern England would also describe it as a ‘twitch-ballock’.