a füle botját sem mozdítja

Hungarian

FWOTD – 16 May 2018

Etymology

From a (“the”) +‎ fül (“ear”) +‎ -e (“his/her/its”, possessive suffix) +‎ bot (“stick”) +‎ -ja (possessive suffix) +‎ -t (accusative suffix) +‎ sem (“not even”) +‎ mozdít (“to move”) +‎ -ja (personal suffix), literally “to not move even the stick of one’s ear” (pretending not to hear what was said). The original saying contained bojt (“tuft”) instead of bot (“stick”) and referred to animals when they did not move even the tuft of hair at the end of their ears to follow the owner’s orders. Later, as the phrase was used figuratively and the original image was forgotten, the two words were switched because of their similar sound.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɒ ˈfylɛ ˈbocːaːt ʃɛm ˈmozdiːcːɒ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

a füle botját sem mozdítja

1. (idiomatic) to turn a deaf ear, not respond, ignore a request, give no answer
   • 1966, Áron Tamási, Vadrózsa ága (Branch of Wild Rose)‎^[1]:

     Illedelmesen köszöntem Dorombinak, de válaszul ő a füle botját sem mozdította meg.

     I politely greeted Dorombi, but he turned a deaf ear in response.

Conjugation

• For the verb, see the definite forms of mozdít.
• The noun fül takes the appropriate possessive suffix according to the subject of the sentence: fülem, füled, füle, fülünk, fületek, fülük.