# Turn a blind eye



## AquisM

Hi. So this thread is inspired by this one from the Chinese forum, and I guess I just got curious and wanted to know how to say this in other languages.

English: Turn a blind eye.
Mandarin Chinese: 睁只眼闭只眼 (zheng zhi yan bi zhi yan - lit. open an eye, close an eye)
Cantonese: 隻眼開隻眼閉 (zek aan hoi zek aan bai - same as above)

Thanks!

EDIT: Oh, just in case people don't understand what this idiom means, it's used when somebody does something undesirable but you simply ignore it and pretend nothing happened.


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## Perseas

*In Greek*: 
*Κάνω τα στραβά μάτια*  /'kano 'ta stra'va 'matça/ .
Κάνω (verb)= I do/make
μάτια (noun pl. neut.)-->μάτι (sing.)= eye
στραβά (adj. pl. neuter). The adjective is στραβός(m)/στραβή(f)/στραβό(n) = crooked/warp


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## tFighterPilot

העלים עין He'elim 'ayin

I have a bit hard time to translate it since I don't know any active form of "Disappear" in English, but let's say it means "[He] disappeared an eye"


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## ThomasK

Dutch: *een oogje dichtknijpen *(to pinch an eye so that it is closed).


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## DearPrudence

In *French*:
*"fermer les yeux (sur qch)"* :_ close the/your eyes (on sth)_


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## Outsider

In Portuguese:
*fechar os olhos:* close one's eyes
*fazer vista grossa:* make thick eyes/eyesight
*fazer que não viu:* act like one did not see


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## dreamlike

In Polish: przymknąć na coś oczy 
*verb:* it basically means "leave something slightly opened", the same verb can be used to say "leave the door ajar".
 In this context, it means that one _closes _his/her eyes only for a brief moment, so as not to see the "undesirable" thing  
*noun:* takes both singular and plural - eye and eyes
*meaning:* the same as in English


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## AquisM

dreamlike said:


> In Polish: przymknąć na coś oczy
> *verb:* it basically means "leave something slightly opened", the same verb can be used to say "leave the door ajar".
> In this context, it means that one _closes _his/her eyes only for a brief moment, so as not to see the "undesirable" thing
> *noun:* takes both singular and plural - eye and eyes
> *meaning:* the same as in English


How interesting that Polish has such a complex verb! And the similarity between many languages with the sense of "closing an eye" (except for English and Greek, so far)


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## dreamlike

He he, there is one more meaning, adding to the complexity of the verb, which I didn't include: informal for "stop talking" (_trash_ is implied by the verb.. not a nice thing to say )


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## AquisM

dreamlike said:


> He he, there is one more meaning, adding to the complexity of the verb, which I didn't include: informal for "stop talking" (_trash_ is implied by the verb.. not a nice thing to say )


Wow, Polish is a very complex language.


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## Perseas

AquisM said:


> And the similarity between many languages with the sense of "closing an eye" (except for English, Hebrew and *Greek*, so far)


In Greek we also use "κλείνω τα μάτια" /'klino ta 'matça/ (lit."close the eyes") or in more formal situations the verb "εθελοτυφλώ" /eθeloti'flo/ with nearly the same meaning.


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## AquisM

Perseas said:


> In Greek we also use "κλείνω τα μάτια" /'klino ta 'matça/ (lit."close the eyes") or in more formal situations the verb "εθελοτυφλώ" /eθeloti'flo/ with nearly the same meaning.


Oh, sorry. I just said that because you gave me another expression above. I've changed my post already.


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## dreamlike

AquisM said:


> Wow, Polish is a very complex language.



It surely is, but there's nothing exceptional about this verb, to be honest. Let's take the English "shut" - one can say  _"Shut up / shut your mouth"_ and, at the same time, _"He shut the door angrily". _The same is the case with the Polish verb - except the first meaning is not this rude, and one leaves the door slightly opened, as opposed to shutting them.


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Tila mapiringan ka!


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## Saluton

Russian:
*закрывать глаза на что-либо* - "close one's eyes to something"
*смотреть на что-либо сквозь пальцы* - "look at something through one's fingers"


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## ancalimon

Turkish:

görmezden gelmek: Literally meaning "to come from as if not seeing" ;  to act as if you did not see.


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Att blunda för något_ - to close ones eyes for something


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## aruniyan

*Kandu KollaathE* (Do not see it)

Kandu - To See with eyes
Kollaa - To Get not


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## Montesacro

*Italian*: chiudere un occhio (_to close an eye_)


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## mataripis

mataripis said:


> Tagalog: Tila mapiringan ka!


I though it is an ordinary expression. But the real Tagalog translation for this is " Sana ay maliwanagan ka"(I hope you see/understand)


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## Selyd

In Ukrainian:
заплющувати (закривати) очі /to close/
не мати очей на що /to not have/
позавіч пускати що /past/
дивитися крізь пальці на що /through/
мов не бачити чого /to not see/
у півока дивитися на що /floor of an eye/
примружувати (прижмурювати) очі на що /to close/


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## shawnee

Perseas said:


> In Greek we also use "κλείνω τα μάτια" /'klino ta 'matça/ (lit."close the eyes") or in more formal situations the verb "εθελοτυφλώ" /eθeloti'flo/ with nearly the same meaning.


My understanding is that the Greeks also use an intriguing colloquial expression for this situation, 'κάνε την πάπια' - make like a duck.


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## Perseas

shawnee said:


> My understanding is that the Greeks also use an intriguing colloquial expression for this situation, 'κάνε την πάπια' - make like a duck.


The common thing in all these expressions -including "κάνω την πάπια" is the pretence. When saying "κλείνω τα μάτια" or "κάνω τα στραβά μάτια" the meaning is to tolerate or to ignore someone's undesirable behaviour pretending that nothing happened. For example, a pupil cheats on a school exam and, although the teacher sees him/her, he pretends that nothing happened. "Κάνω την πάπια" is usually used when we pretend to be irrelevant to a situation or not aware of something (in order to trick somebody). For example, a pupil brings a mobile phone in class while it is forbidden. The teacher tells him he ' ll be punished for that and the pupil pretends that he was unaware of that rule. In my dictionary "κάνω την παπια" is translated "play possum".


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## ThomasK

To play the stupid one, we'd say (_zich van den domme houden_) in Dutch, but then it is not the same as turn a blind eye, I'd say. In the latter case it is the lower ranking person doing as if, whereas in the other case it is the superior (one) who grants pardon or something the like, is it ?


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## shawnee

Thank you for the detailed clarification Perseas.


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*:

_ei olla huomaavinaan(kaan) jotain_

This is a special structure ('quasistructure') consisting of the verb _ei _('no/not'), the verb _olla_ ('to be') and the plural essive form of the present participle of _huomata_ (notice) equipped with the possessive suffix -VVn (where V indicates a vowel) and possibly the enclitic particle -_kaan_ meaning 'even, also, even so'.  Understood?

Well, the structure itself isn't as interesting as what it indicates. This quasistructure converts reality into dream, play or - as in this case - pretending. _Ei olla huomaavinaan(kaan) jtk_ therefore means 'pretend not to notice sth'.

Alternatively:

_sulkea silmänsä joltain_ = close one's eyes at (lit. from) something


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## Messquito

In English, it is also possible to say "Look the other way."
In Taiwanese Chinese, we say 睜一隻眼閉一隻眼, with the numbers retained.


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## Armas

Saluton said:


> Russian:
> *смотреть на что-либо сквозь пальцы* - "look at something through one's fingers"



Finnish also has it: _katsoa sormien läpi._


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## Dymn

*Catalan*:
_fer els ulls grossos _"make the eyes big"

*Spanish*:
_hacer la vista gorda _"make the sight thick"


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## Kotlas

Saluton said:


> Russian:
> *закрывать глаза на что-либо* - "close one's eyes to something"
> *смотреть на что-либо сквозь пальцы* - "look at something through one's fingers"


There is also another phrase with an additional, slightly different meaning:
в упор не видеть/не замечать - "refuse to see" something or somebody, often to show contempt for another person.


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