# Blind as a bat



## Penyafort

In English, an idiom used for comparison to indicate blindness is *blind as a bat*.

In Spanish, the same idiom would be 'blind as a mole': *ciego como un topo*. (Even when the word for bat in Spanish is 'blind mouse': _mur + ciégalo_)

Are there any similar idioms in your language? Are bats or moles used for that, or rather something completely different?


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## jazyk

Cego como uma toupeira, blind as a mole, or cego como uma porta, blind as a door, in Portuguese.


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## Olaszinhok

jazyk said:


> Cego como uma toupeira


The same in Italian,_ cieco come una talpa or essere una talpa _(mole)


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## Circunflejo

Penyafort said:


> In Spanish, the same idiom would be 'blind as a mole': *ciego como un topo*.


I'm not sure if that one is more frequent than _ciego como un murciélago_. By the way, what about Catalan?


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## Demiurg

Penyafort said:


> Are there any similar idioms in your language? Are bats or moles used for that, or rather something completely different?



In Geman we use bats and moles (and owls) for that purpose. 

_Blind wie ...
... ein Maulwurf_ (a mole)
_... eine Fledermaus_ (a bat)
_... eine Eule bei Tag_ (an owl during the day)


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## marco_2

In Polish: *ślepy jak kret *(blind as a mole).


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *= no similar idioms.


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## apmoy70

In Greek it's *«τυφλοπόντικας»* [ti.flɔˈpɔn.di.kas] (masc.) --> _mole_.
*«Τυφλός σαν τυφλοπόντικας»* [tiˈflɔs san ti.flɔˈpɔn.di.kas] --> _blind as a mole_.

-MoGr nominal *«τυφλός, -λή, -λό»* [tiˈflɔs] (masc.), [tiˈfli] (fem.), [tiˈflɔ] (neut.) --> _blind, blocked, clogged_ < Classical adj. *«τυφλός, -λή, -λόν» tŭpʰlós* (masc.), *tŭpʰlḗ* (fem.), *tŭpʰlón* (neut.) --> _blind, dark, blocked, clogged, dim, obscure_ (PIE *dʰeubʰ- _foggy_, cf Proto-Germanic *dumbaz > Ger. dumm, Eng. dumb, Dt dom).

-MoGr masc. noun *«τυφλοπόντικας»* [ti.flɔˈpɔn.di.kas], a late Byz. Gr. compound, formed by joining the adj. «τυφλός» + masc. augmentative *«πόντικας»* [ˈpɔn.di.kas], of Koine noun *«ποντικός» pŏntikós* --> _mouse_, which replaced the "difficult" Classical word for it, *«μῦς» mûs*. «Ποντικός» comes from *«ποντικός μῦς» pŏntikós mûs* --> _pontic mouse_, which either desribed a kind of weasel, native to the Pontic reɡion in Anatolia (northern Black Sea shore), or the rodents that infested ships (from «πόντος» póntŏs = sea).


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## nimak

Macedonian:

*слеп како крт* (_slep kako krt_) ['slɛp kakɔ 'kr̩t] = _lit._ "blind  as (a) mole"
*слеп како лилјак* (_slep kako liljak_) ['slɛp kakɔ 'liljak] = _lit._ "blind  as (a) bat"


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## Awwal12

nimak said:


> *слеп како крт* (_slep kako krt_) ['slɛp kakɔ 'kr̩t] = _lit._ "blind as (a) mole"


Basically same in Russian, слеп/слепой как крот (slép/slepóy kák krót) ['slʲɛp / slʲɪ'poɪ̯ 'kak 'kɾɔt] - blind as a mole.
I have to note that bats are comparatively rare in Central Russia (I've never seen one outside a zoo in all my life), and probably the name (literally "flying mice" in Russian) is too long and inconvenient as well.


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## Welsh_Sion

*Cymraeg/Welsh

Dall bost *= Blind as a post

(No creatures feature in our idioms, as far as I know).

As an aside, a blind neighbour had the nickname (because Welsh people give nicknames to _everybody_) 'Siôn Dywyll' That is, 'Dark (i.e. 'not light') John'


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## Awwal12

Welsh_Sion said:


> As an aside, a blind neighbour had the nickname (because Welsh people give nicknames to _everybody_) 'Siôn Dywyll' That is, 'Dark (i.e. 'not light') John'


That instantly brings to my mind the Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasily II the Blind (literally, "Vasiliy the Dark" - "Василий Тёмный").


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## Nanon

French: _aveugle comme une taupe_ (blind as a mole) is much less frequent than _myope comme une taupe_ (short-sighted as a mole).


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## Włoskipolak 72

marco_2 said:


> In Polish: *ślepy jak kret *(blind as a mole).



I have heard also ;   

*ślepy jak nietoperz ..?  *(blind as a bat )


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## jazyk

Czech has the same: slepý jako netopýr.


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## Awwal12

On a sidenote: Russian does have the word нетопырь (netopýr'/nétopyr', [nʲɪtɐ'pɨɾʲ]/['nʲɛtəpəɾʲ]), with one of its meanings being the generic "a bat", but it's fairly uncommon and always was, judging on the huge distortions in the dialects (letopyr', natopyr', nastopyr' etc.).


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## Penyafort

Very interesting comments here!

I certainly didn't expect the comparison to the mole being so common, I'm surprised. 

@Circunflejo I personally think that the one with the _topo _is much more common in Spanish. Actually, I don't remember hearing _como un murciélago _in Spanish, to be honest.


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## merquiades

Circunflejo said:


> I'm not sure if that one is more frequent than _ciego como un murciélago_.


  Oh, that exists? 

*Blind as a mole*  also exists in English, but perhaps it's not as common.


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## Circunflejo

Penyafort said:


> Actually, I don't remember hearing _como un murciélago _in Spanish, to be honest.





merquiades said:


> Oh, that exists?


One example of use: a quote from page 275 of the Novel El desván, by Susana Prieto and Lea Vélez (published in 2003):





> Su tío estaba ciego como un murciélago, pero al igual que el repugnante animal, era capaz de detectar hasta la más mínima vibración.


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## swift

Penyafort said:


> Actually, I don't remember hearing _como un murciélago _in Spanish, to be honest


Google Books solo da 17 resultados en castellano (quizá 18, pero el documento no tiene vista previa). Varios de ellos corresponden a traducciones literales del inglés, en glosarios, o en documentos biomédicos o farmacéuticos.


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## Circunflejo

swift said:


> Google Books solo da 17 resultados en castellano


Y de ciego como un topo, ¿cuántos da?


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Welsh_Sion said:


> *Cymraeg/Welsh
> 
> Dall bost *= Blind as a post



Funny, in English we say "deaf as a post" (as I'm sure you know) .


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## morior_invictus

Slovak: *slepý jak patrón* or *slepý ako patrón* (_lit._ blind as a blank (cartridge)).

*slepý jak/ako netopier* (_lit. _blind as a bat) is not as common where I'm from.


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