# Walls have ears



## El escoces

Further to the interesting thread from earlier today on the different words used in each language (except perhaps English) for different types of wall, I have a further question.

In English, we might say, "The walls have ears" (meaning Be careful, you never know who might be eavesdropping).  You might tap the side of your nose, in a knowing manner, while saying it (such action would be stereotypically melodramatic).

Is there an equivalent idiom in other languages, or would one simply have to be more literal?

El escocés


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## Angel.Aura

In *Italian* we use the same expression (even if we don't tap the side of our nose )
"The walls have ears" = _(Anche) I muri hanno orecchie_


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## Outsider

In Portuguese, too: _"As paredes têm ouvidos"_.


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## El escoces

Interesting, many thanks.  Suspicious (or cautious) bunch, we Europeans.


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## Trisia

Romanians are pretty "cautious" as well:

_Walls have ears = Pereţii au urechi._


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## Christo Tamarin

English:*  Walls have ears *(as well)*.*
Bulgarian: (*И*) *Стените имат уши.*
Russian: *И у стен есть уши.*
Greek: (*Kαί*) *οι τοίχοι έχουν αυτιά*.


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## Tamar

In Hebrew: אוזניים לכותל
[ozna'im la kotel]


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## Miguel Antonio

In Spain we say: _las paredes tienen oídos_


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch: de muren hebben oren.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Kangy

Miguel Antonio said:


> In Spain we say: _las paredes tienen oídos_


Do you really?
Over here we say "Las paredes escuchan" _(walls hear)_


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## Topsie

French: Les murs ont des oreilles !


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## majlo

In Polish we have the exact counterpart:
"Ściany mają uszy".


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## Dr. Quizá

Kangy said:


> Do you really?
> Over here we say "Las paredes escuchan" _(walls hear)_



Here we say "las paredes oyen".

On the other hand, there's ironically "sordo como una tapia" ("deaf as a wall").


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Dr. Quizá said:


> Here we say "las paredes oyen".
> 
> On the other hand, there's ironically "sordo como una tapia" ("deaf as a wall").


 

Yo también estoy de acuerdo en que las paredes más que escuchar o tener oídos, *oyen.*
Aunque donde yo vivo es habitual la confusión entre escuchar y oír, en esta frase hecha, *las paredes oyen*


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## בעל-חלומות

Tamar said:


> In Hebrew: אוזניים לכותל


 
Which may be the source for this expression as it is from a book that was written in the sixth century (ויקרא רבה).


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## elroy

Arabic: للحيطان آذان (_lil-HiiTaani aadhaanun_)


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## kusurija

In Czech:
I stěny mají uši. ((also) walls have ears)

In Lithuanian:
Ir sienos girdi ((also) walls hears)
_or _ir sienos turi ausis ((also) walls have ears)


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## valdo

In *Latvian*:

Sienām ir ausis


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## Flaminius

In Japanese:

"Walls have ears" is a set phrase but it is actually a part of a well-known proverb:
壁に耳あり、障子に目あり。
Kabe-ni mimi ari, shōji-ni me ari.

Walls have ears, screen sliding doors have eyes.


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## Outsider

How curious that the saying should also exist that far away! I wonder if European languages got the expression from Japanese...


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, _la muro havas orelojn_ (the wall has ears).  This expression is documented from the earliest days of Esperanto.


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog:

It's really an idiom, there's no literal meaning to us but we rather use

May pakpak ang balita or it's like the 'news have wings' in English which obviously means that news can easily or reach you faster as to have wings 

and for 'walls have ears" literally it's 'may tenga ang dingding'.


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## avok

In Turkish, we have "Yerin kulağı vardır." which means "the ground has ears" (lit. an ear)


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## kanya22

En Mexico tambien decimos "las paredes oyen" o "hasta las paredes oyen"


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## xisanibo

In Chinese we have the idiom "隔墙有耳" , which means "the walls have ears" or literally "there is a ear/are ears on the other side of the wall ". So intereting we have the same expression
The origin of this Chinese idiom is the book "管子" (Guanzi) written in the the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period in Chinese history(770-221BC) . So does the Japanese saying: 

牆（かき）に耳（みみ）あり (the walls have ears)

〔出典〕 『管子』君臣下 (Origin): Guanzi, Article: Junchenxia（literally means Lords and Ministers II）


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## Encolpius

very interesting it exists in many languages

*Hungarian:* A falnak is füle van. (_even the wall has ears_)


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## piuet

In Catalan we say *Hi ha roba estesa*, literally _There are clothes hanging (to dry)._ The meaning is the same as _Walls have ears_, though.


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*: _Seinilläkin on korvat. _(even the walls have ears)


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## mataripis

I say it in Tagalog: Dinig man sa lupa/dingding.


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## darush

in Persian: wall has mouse and mouse has ear[s].


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## djara

In Tunisian Arabic: en-nhar bi-3weenaatu, w illeel bi-wdhiinaatu The day with its eyes (has eyes) and the night with its ears (has ears).


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## darush

djara said:


> In Tunisian Arabic: en-nhar bi-3weenaatu, w illeel bi-wdhiinaatu The day with its eyes (has eyes) and the night with its ears (has ears).


too nice! please write it down in Arabic script.


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## ancalimon

In Turkish apart from "yerin kulağı var : the ground has an ear"  we also use "şeytan kulağına kurşun" meaning "a bullet the the ear of the devil" or maybe "lead (the chemical substance) to the ear of the devil" when we don't want something to happen we just said or heard.


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## djara

darush said:


> too nice! please write it down in Arabic script.


النهار بعويناتو والليل بوذيناتو
In Modern Standard Arabic it would be النهار بعينيه والليل باذنيه


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## Perseas

I have heard the expression "ears have walls" (I mean its translation in Greek) which in my view means the situation when someone wouldn't listen or accept other people's opinions. I don't think it has become a set phrase in Greek, but it's rather a word play with the known phrase "walls have ears". Does this phrase mean something in your language or not?


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## darush

Perseas said:


> ... the situation when someone wouldn't listen or accept other people's opinions... Does this phrase mean something in your language or not?


yes, in Persian when we are talking to a person and we never see a reaction, then we say: (it seems) I'm talking to [a] wall.


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## Fericire

There is a Portuguese Proverb: «Montes vêem, paredes ouvem» (lit. Hills/Mountains/etc can see, walls can hear).


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## jana.bo99

Slovenian: Stene imajo ušesa

Croatian: Zidovi imajo uši 

It means, we have to be careful what we are talking about, even in some empty room or house.


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## OneStroke

This looks interesting: http://everything2.com/title/The+Walls+have+Ears


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## seitt

Here's the Welsh equivalent: Mae llygaid gan y perthi a chlustiau gan y cloddiau.
Literally: “There are eyes with the hedges and ears with the embankments.”
I.e. “Hedges have eyes and embankments have ears.”


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## mataripis

Tagalog: May pakinig kahit ang dingding./May tenga ang dingding.


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## ilocas2

in Croatian also:

*šuma ima uši, polje ima oči* - forest has ears, field has eyes


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## Dymn

In *Catalan* we also say _les parets tenen orelles_, (literal translation) among other variations.


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## merquiades

In Spain to express this idea of being careful because there may well be eavesdropping I've heard much more frequently the expression:  Hay moros en la costa. (There are moors on the coast).


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## Sardokan1.0

In Sardinian the phrase can be translated using 3 different verbs :

_Sos muros han orìjas_ = The walls have ears
_Sos muros tenen orìjas_ = The walls keep ears
_Sos muros jùghen orìjas_ = The walls bring ears


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## matiassko

In Slovakia we have a similar phase as in English, we use an expression: Aj steny majú uši. It is exactly the same.


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## bibax

ilocas2 said:


> in Croatian also:
> 
> *šuma ima uši, polje ima oči* - forest has ears, field has eyes


< Campus habet oculos, silva aures.


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## Marcio_Osorio

Fericire said:


> There is a Portuguese Proverb: «Montes vêem, paredes ouvem» (lit. Hills/Mountains/etc can see, walls can hear).


To native speakers of (any variety of) English, fields have eyes and woods have ears.

In the last 2009 language shake-up, Portuguese _vêem_ lost its circumflex accent. Now speakers of any variety of Portuguese write, "veem."


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## ilocas2

jana.bo99 said:


> Croatian: Zidovi imaju uši



I don't want to correct native speakers, but this was an obvious thinko, so I correct it.


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## Penyafort

In Spanish, apart from the already mentioned above (_Las paredes oyen_ 'Walls hear' and _Hay moros en la costa_ 'There are Moors off the coast'), an equivalent to the Catalan _Hi ha roba estesa_ also exists: *Hay ropa tendida *'There are clothes hanging up (on the line)'.

The origin of this is likely to be from the fact that, when you wanted to talk to someone about something important, there was always, by "chance", a nosy neighbour hanging up clothes at that very moment, with very attentive ears. So people would say, Careful, there are clothes hanging up...


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## nimak

*Macedonian*:

*И ѕидовите имаат уши!* (I dzidóvite ímaat úši!) lit. _"The-walls have ears too!"_


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## ThomasK

darush said:


> in Persian: wall has mouse and mouse has ear[s].


Where is that mouse? ;-)


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## ThomasK

These are special in my view:


bibax said:


> < Campus habet oculos, silva aures.





seitt said:


> Here's the Welsh equivalent: Mae llygaid gan y perthi a chlustiau gan y cloddiau.
> Literally: “There are eyes with the hedges and ears with the embankments.”
> I.e. “Hedges have eyes and embankments have ears.”





djara said:


> In Tunisian Arabic: en-nhar bi-3weenaatu, w illeel bi-wdhiinaatu The day with its eyes (has eyes) and the night with its ears (has ears).


I love these, but I do not have a clue as for the origin of field eyes and forest ears (here I could guess something), hedges' eyes and embankment eyes. And i am still looking for the mouse in #52!


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## nimak

nimak said:


> *Macedonian*:
> 
> *И ѕидовите имаат уши!* (I dzidóvite ímaat úši!) lit. _"The-walls have ears too!"_



I didn't mention the other variants.

There is a variant with "_wall_" in singular. Plus, depending on which definite article you would use (Macedonian has 3 definite articles) it can be:

*И ѕидот има уши!* (I dzídot íma úši!) lit. _"The-wall has ears too!"_
*И ѕидон има уши!* (I dzídon íma úši!) lit. _"The-wall has ears too!"_

There are another similar proverbs mentioning "_water_" and "_fence_":

*И водата има уши!* (I vódata íma úši!) lit. _"The-water has ears too!"_
*И водана има уши!* (I vódana íma úši!) lit. _"The-water has ears too!"_

*Ѕидот уши има, плотот очи има!* (Dzídot úši ima, plótot óči ima!) lit' "_The-wall has ears, the-fence has eyes!_"
*Ѕидон уши има, плотон очи има!* (Dzídon úši ima, plóton óči ima!) lit' "_The-wall has ears, the-fence has eyes!_"


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## bibax

The hearing forest and the sighted field is one of artworks by Hieronymus Bosch.
Hieronymus Bosch: The Hearing Forest and the Seeing Field

Heinrich Bebel, in 1508 quotes from the Proverbia germanica, a collection of proverbs published in Latin: 'Campus habet oculos; silva aures'


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## djara

ThomasK said:


> but I do not have a clue as for the origin of field eyes and forest ears


I guess that fields being open (hardly any trees) we can see quite far whereas forests being thick with trees we can hardly see, but we can hear


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## ThomasK

Indeed, I had thought of that for a second... ;-) The mysterious wallmouse is still around. I am just wondering whether the word might refer to something other than a mouse but sounds like that due to popular etymology...


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## ThomasK

Mouse mystery solved! Truce tells me at the Indo-Iranian section that a mouse is some kind of informant! He adds: "When it is deserted and you feel safe and you talk in an imprudent way, it is not that safe as it seems to be. Although you see no one around but walls, there are  mouse holes in the walls in which the mice hear what you say."


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## nimak

ilocas2 said:


> in Croatian also:
> 
> *šuma ima uši, polje ima oči* - forest has ears, field has eyes





bibax said:


> < Campus habet oculos, silva aures.



We have this proverb in Macedonian too:

*Поле окато, гора ушата.* (Póle ókato, góra úšata.) = lit. "Field _'has eyes; sighted' (Adj.)_, forest _'has ears; hearing' (Adj.)_"

*поле* (pole) _neut_. = "_field_"​*окато* (okato) _adj. neut._ = _something/someone that has eye(s); sighted_​*око,* _pl_. *очи* (oko, _pl._ oči) = _"eye(s)"_​*гора* (gora) _fem_. = "_forest_"​*ушата* (ušata) _adj. fem._ = _something/someone that has ear(s); hearing_​*уво,* _pl_. *уши* (uvo, _pl_. uši) = _"ear(s)"_​


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