rubber ear

n. an attitude or instance of rejection, refusal, or unresponsiveness; the cold shoulder. Also v., to reject, refuse, or ignore. Subjects: English, Scotland

Editorial Note: Sometimes constructed similar to give (someone) the rubber ear or get the rubber ear. Although the first cite is from an American author, the term is far more common among Scots.

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Citations: 1981 William Diehl Chameleon p. 88: Mooney was getting a rubber ear from listening to all the complaints and excuses, and the phone rang and Mooney snatched it up and snapped, “Forget it!” 1990 [Ewan Benson] Usenet: eunet.jokes (Nov. 28) “Translators”: It’s helluva difficult tae try an type wi a Scottish accent, so any choobish flames wull just be rubber-eared. 1992 Tom Shields @ Washington, D.C. The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) (Feb. 11) “Sutch and such as those” p. 12: Predictably the Democratic Party election organisers are giving Curly a rubber ear. Equally predictably Curly is suing the Democratic Party. 1994 Stephen Mcginty The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) (May 21) “Stood up and counted” p. 25: There can be no greater put-down than a stand-up. A dissy, a rubber ear, or cold shoulder, only the names are changed to protect the guilty.…Can you imagine the stench in the streets if every guy or girl rubber-eared on a date, decided to wait until their dates came to their senses? 1994 Scottish Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) (Aug. 22) “No Whine Please, We’re Scots!” p. 19: While Scots have never been backward about coming forward with complaints, they stand more chance of getting the rubber-ear treatment than anywhere else. According to the survey, 15 per cent of Scots interviewed complained that their complaints had been ignored. 1998 Denise Mina Garnethill (May 1) p. 12: She was conducting a campaign to have the funding reinstated and was getting the rubber ear everywhere. 2004 Steven Rattray Scottish Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) (Dec. 8) “Football: Lossie Put The Shutters Up At Last”: Steven came up and spoke to me before the game saying he was not feeling too well but I gave him the rubber ear and told him he was playing and to get on with it. 2005 Hugh Reilly Scotsman (Glasgow, Scotland) (Apr. 20) “New scheme with that sinking feeling”: It has called for the first module fee of £600 to be paid for by the taxpayer to raise morale among teaching’s minions but the Executive has rubber-eared (oops, slipped into Glasgow patois) this request. By the looks of things, I’ll be a pensioner before I’ll be a Chartered Teacher.

Posted 20 Apr 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend