go in one ear and out the other

English

Alternative forms

• go in at one ear and at out the other

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

go in one ear and out the other (third-person singular simple present goes in one ear and out the other, present participle going in one ear and out the other, simple past went in one ear and out the other, past participle gone in one ear and out the other)

1. (idiomatic) To be heard but not attended to, when a person fails to pay attention.

   He told me who he saw, but it went in one ear and out the other.

Translations

to be heard but not attended to

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 左耳入，右耳出 (zo² ji⁵ jap⁶, jau⁶ ji⁵ ceot¹)

  Hokkien: 一耳空入，一耳空出 (Tsi̍t hīnn-khang ji̍p, tsi̍t hīnn-khang tshut)

  Mandarin: 當耳邊風／当耳边风 (zh) (dàng ěrbiānfēng), 左耳朵進，右耳朵出／左耳朵进，右耳朵出 (zh) (zuǒ ěrduo jìn, yòu ěrduo chū), 左耳進，右耳出／左耳进，右耳出 (zuǒ'ěr jìn, yòu'ěr chū)

• Finnish: mennä yhdestä korvasta sisään ja toisesta ulos
• French: entrer par une oreille et sortir par l’autre (fr)
• Galician: entrar por unha orella e saír pola outra
• German: zum einen Ohr hinein- und zum anderen wieder hinausgehen
• Hebrew: נִכְנַס בְּאֹזֶן אַחַת וְיָצָא דֶּרֶךְ הָאׂזְן הַשְּׁנִיָּה (he) (nichnás b'ózen aẖát vyatzá dérech haózen hashniyá)
• Hungarian: egyik fülén be, a másikon ki
• Icelandic: innum eitt eyrað og útum hitt
• Indonesian: masuk kuping kiri, keluar kuping kanan, masuk telinga kanan, keluar telinga kiri
• Korean: 한쪽 귀로 듣고 한쪽 귀로 흘려버리다 (hanjjok gwiro deutgo hanjjok gwiro heullyeobeorida)
• Malay: masuk telinga kanan, keluar telinga kiri (ms)
• Polish: jednym uchem wchodzi, a drugim wychodzi
• Russian: в одно́ у́хо влета́ет, в друго́е вылета́ет (v odnó úxo vletájet, v drugóje vyletájet, literally “flies in one ear, flies out the other”)
• Spanish: entrar por un oído y salir por el otro
• Telugu: ఒక చెవితో విని మరో చెవితో వదిలెయ్యడం (oka cevitō vini marō cevitō vadileyyaḍaṁ)
• Thai: เข้าหูซ้ายทะลุหูขวา (th)
• Vietnamese: nói đâu quên đấy

See also

• fall on deaf ears
• preach to deaf ears

Further reading

• “go in one ear and out the other”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “go in one ear and out the other”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.