Sick and Tired of Getting Tacos on my Ears Japanese Idiom Lesson

Tacos?!

Okay, this has nothing to do with the yummy Mexican food, but see below for what “tako” means in Japanese and your ears.

耳(みみ)にたこができる

mimi ni tako ga dekiru
to be sick and tired of hearing something
to hear something over and over again

If someone “talks your ears off,” instead of using this idiom, you can ignore them while claiming your “ears are far” (mimi ga tooi) which means you can’t hear too well.

Literally, “get calluses on one’s ears.” The “tako” here means “callus” such as what guitar players get on their fingers or the “corn” found on feet.

Other common words with the same “tako” pronunciation are:

• 蛸 tako octopus
• 凧 tako kite (the toy you fly in the sky)
• The Mexican food, taco, is pronounced タコス takosu.

EXAMPLE:

宿題(しゅくだい)をしなさいと、耳(みみ)にたこができるほど母(はは)に言(い)われた。

shukudai o shinasai to, mimi ni tako ga dekiru hodo haha ni iwareta.
“Do your homework!” my mother said so many times my ears developed calluses.”

• 宿題 shukudai—homework
• しなさい  shinasai—do (something) [command] と to—quotation marker
• ほど hodo—to such an extent
• 母 haha—mother
• 言われた iwareta—said