2023-07-19 07:02:37
In our article on the craziest French expressions, we already told you about the phrase “going to suck the fleas”. From “doing a flea jump” to “shaking the fleas”, the six-legged vampire is on a roll in the language of Molière. Today, let’s focus on the origin of “to have a flea in your ear” and its variant, “to put a flea in your ear”.
Love is in the meadow
Being madly in love, it itches all the time and you sometimes scratch yourself until you bleed. This is in any case what the authors of the Middle Ages must have said to themselves. Well, to be honest, they said all kinds of weird things to each other, these people. For example, that the shape of the ear evoked that… of the female sex.
It is with this type of dubious analogy that “to have a flea in your ear” became, around the 13th century, synonymous with “causing or feeling amorous desire”. Understand who can.
ringing ears
As there are more romantic than arthropods, this usage has fortunately fallen into disuse. The expression has been able to demonstrate the same resistance as the animal it evokes: rather than disappearing, it has found a new meaning. It was in the 17th century that “to have a flea in your ear” became synonymous with “to suspect a danger, to suspect something”. And since one is never better informed than by one’s friends, one quickly spoke of “putting a flea in someone’s ear”. You have been warned.
#expression #flea #ear