be tone-deaf
Meaning: To be unable to tell musical notes apart; also, to have no sense of how others feel.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “I'd sing along, but I'm completely tone-deaf.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: A term from 19th-century musical writing for the inability to hear differences in pitch. The figurative sense, of someone blind to the mood around them, is recent.
Equivalents in other languages
- Russian: медведь на ухо наступил (medved' na ukho nastupil) — literally: a bear stepped on one's ear
More idioms — Body & Senses
- throw dust in someone's eyes — To mislead someone by distracting them.
- up to one's ears in debt — Deeply in debt.
- hand on heart — Said when swearing that something is completely true.
- you'll live — Said to someone making a fuss over a small injury or setback.
- with an iron fist — With harsh, absolute control.
- all brawn and no brain — Physically strong but not clever.
More English idioms
- when pigs fly — Never.
- mark my words — Remember what I am telling you; it will turn out to be true.
- lead someone up the garden path — To deceive someone, keeping them hopeful along the way.
- packed like sardines — Crowded very tightly together.
- give someone the runaround — To put someone off with excuses instead of a straight answer.
- pin the blame on someone — To make someone take responsibility for a fault, often unfairly.
From our tongue twisters
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.