have Van Gogh's ear for music
English
WOTD – 30 May 2012
Etymology
Van Gogh (a painter, not a musician) is famed for cutting off his own ear. The phrase is attributed to Billy Wilder.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
have Van Gogh's ear for music (third-person singular simple present has Van Gogh's ear for music, present participle having Van Gogh's ear for music, simple past and past participle had Van Gogh's ear for music)
- (humorous) To be tone-deaf.
- 1970, Tom Wood, The bright side of Billy Wilder, primarily:
- After listening to Cliff Osmond, a huge, 225-pound actor, rehearse a song he was to sing as part of his role in Kiss Me, Stupid, Billy observed, not unkindly, "You have Van Gogh's ear for music."
- 2006, Stephen Murray, Darin Jewell, Dirty Laundry (page 2)
- […] some inebriated idiot belting out a karaoke number thinking that he or she is perfectly in tune and the rest of the audience is somehow captivated by the performance — most of them have Van Gogh's ear for music.
- 2011, Joseph O'Connor, Cowboys and Indians, page 148:
- Brian had Van Gogh's ear for music. When Clint told him that he said, 'Hey, that's great, thanks Clint,' like it was a compliment.
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Translations
humorous: to be tone-deaf
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