Here in the NL, they call a person "Oost-Indies doof" (East-Indies deaf)
i.e. pretend not to hear things they don't want to hear.
The origin probably lies back in the time of the Dutch colonies in Indonesia.
Indonesians, and Eastern folks in general try to avoid saying no if asked a question
that they would rather not answer. So they pretend not to have heard what is asked.
We don't really have a special saying for it in English
the best translation is 'selective hearing'
2 comments:
"We don't really have a special saying for it in English..."
Oh yes we do: "to rubberlug".
Right!!
I've obviously been living abroad to long... my English is getting rusty !
Post a Comment