walls have ears

walls have ears

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England)

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Proverb

walls have ears

1. There is a risk of being overheard, so be careful about what you say.
   • 1915, William MacLeod Raine, Steve Yeager, ch. 20:

     "But it is well to remember that walls have ears, and therefore to whisper."

   • 2015 July 15, Thanassis Cambanis, "A Syrian Parody Features the Civil War, and Is Stalked by It," New York Times (retrieved 27 Sep 2017):

     “We're talking about everything you can't discuss in Damascus, because there the walls have ears,” Mr. Taieb said.

Translations

be careful about what you say

Arabic: اَلْجِدْرَان لَهَا آذَان‎ (al-jidrān lahā ʾāḏān), لِلْحِيطَان آذَان‎ (li-l-ḥīṭān ʾāḏān) Belarusian: і сце́ны ма́юць ву́шы (i scjény májucʹ vúšy) Bengali: দেয়ালের কান আছে (deyaler kan ache) Burmese: နံရံတိုင်းမှာ နားတွေရှိတယ် (nam-ramtuing:hma na:twehri.tai) Chinese: Mandarin: 隔牆有耳／隔墙有耳 (zh) (géqiáng yǒu ěr) Czech: stěny mají uši (cs) Danish: væggene har ører Dutch: de muren hebben oren Esperanto: la muroj havas orelojn Finnish: seinilläkin on korvat French: les murs ont des oreilles (fr) German: Wände haben Ohren Greek: και οι τοίχοι έχουν αυτιά (kai oi toíchoi échoun aftiá) Hungarian: a falnak is füle van (hu) Irish: bíonn cluasa ar na claíocha, bíonn cluasa ar an gcoill Italian: i muri hanno le orecchie Japanese: 壁に耳あり、 障子に目あり (かべにみみあり、 しょうじにめあり, kabe ni mimi ari, shōji ni me ari), 壁に耳あり (かべにみみあり, kabe ni mimi ari), 障子に目あり (しょうじにめあり, shōji ni me ari) (sliding doors have eyes) Korean: 낮말은 새가 듣고 밤말은 쥐가 듣는다 (ko) (nanmareun saega deutgo bammareun jwiga deunneunda) Latin: parietes habent aures Latvian: sienām ir ausis Lithuanian: ir sienos girdi, ir sienos turi ausis Macedonian: и ѕидовите имаат уши (i dzidovite imaat uši), и ѕидот има уши (i dzidot ima uši) Polish: ściany mają uszy (pl) Portuguese: as paredes têm ouvidos Romanian: pereții au urechi Russian: и у стен есть у́ши (i u sten jestʹ úši) Scottish Gaelic: cluasan anns gach ceàrn Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: и зидови имају уши Roman: i zidovi imaju uši Slovak: aj steny majú uši Spanish: las paredes oyen Swedish: väggarna har öron, små grytor har också öron Tagalog: may tenga ang dingding Telugu: గోడకు చెవులుంటాయి (gōḍaku cevuluṇṭāyi) Thai: กำแพงมีหู ประตูมีช่อง (th), กำแพงมีหู ประตูมีตา (th) Turkish: yerin kulağı vardır Ukrainian: і у стін є ву́ха (i u stin je vúxa), і сті́ни ма́ють ву́ха (i stíny májutʹ vúxa) Vietnamese: tai vách mạch dừng (vi)

See also

• little pitchers have big ears