FrenchTirer les oreilles
Meaning: To scold someone harshly or punish them.
Literally: To pull the ears
Example: “Si tu rentres encore avec ton pantalon déchiré, ta mère va te tirer les oreilles.” — If you come home with torn pants again, your mother is going to give you an earful.
English equivalent: To give someone an earful
Equivalents in other languages
English: give someone an earful
Origin: Pulling a child's ears was for centuries a standard punishment at home and at school, painful without being dangerous, and the Académie française's first dictionary (1694) already lists tirer les oreilles à quelqu'un. The physical punishment has largely gone, and the phrase now mostly means a telling-off, though it can still be literal when said of a child.
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