Is the popular phrase "Play it by ear," or "Play it by year?"

[etalns]

My friend swears that it's play it by year, I, on the other hand, believe he's been snorting a bit too much cocaine in my absence.

So, weigh in bitches!

 

[nakedfrog]

You're wrong. It's ear.
Ah, you edited, your FRIEND says it's by year, so he's wrong.

 

[FoBoT]

ear

 

[Krazy4Real]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
ear

poll?

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: Krazy4Real

Originally posted by: FoBoT
ear

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
You're wrong. It's ear.

 

[YetioDoom]

Ear.

Done and done.

 

[Proletariat]

Play it by ear. As in playing music by listening to it.

 

[dnuggett]

It is play it by ear....


C'mon that one was common sense.

In what conversation would he say play it be year?

 

[FoBoT]

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pla1.htm

From George: ?Trying to explain the phrase play it by ear is difficult to the Japanese, especially when they ask you why the word ear is used. What is the origin of this phrase??

[A] The phrase by ear goes back a long way in a figurative sense. It?s a metonym, the substitution of a word by another with which it is closely associated.

It?s in much the same style as Antony?s speech in Shakespeare?s Julius Caesar: ?Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears?. He meant this figuratively, asking his audience to lend him the thing their ears contained, their function?in other words to listen to him, to hear him out. In phrases like by ear the process is taken one stage further: not merely the function of hearing but also being able to accurately reproduce a melody one has heard, without needing written music. So we have phrases like he has a good ear for music and she can play anything by ear.

The saying has been taken yet another step further away from anything literal when people use it to mean doing something in an extempore way, without planning, according to circumstances as they arise. If this is the sense in which your Japanese students encounter it, I?m not surprised that they find it puzzling.

 

[ahurtt]

It's EAR. Duhhh. Your friend is a moron.

 

[mitmot]

ear

poll?

 

[Ktulu]

Play it by BEER

 

[BooGiMaN]

wtf is the deal with these threads today calling everyone on ATOT bitches

 

[tweakmm]

Your friend is a moron.
I wouldn't blame the blow, maybe he was dropped on his head when he was little?

You should go find out, just play it by year.

 

[hdeck]

your friend cannot be serious. it's ear.

 

[Metron]

That's almost as bad as people who say:

Irregardless... (double negative, which is a no no in English -- regardless)

or

Could care less... (meaning you do care? -- "Couldn't care less")

If you're going to use a cliche, at least get it right!

 

[Kadarin]

The phrase "play it by year" makes no sense. The context in which "play it by ear" is typically used is where one does not plan ahead, but rather reacts on immediate events.

 

[ironcrotch]

wtf, play it by year??????

its ear.

/thread. add poll. :beer:

 

[allisolm]

My immediate thought was "We don't get French benefits?"

 

[broon]

Play it by rear?

Sheesh. I can't believe someone hasn't said it yet.

 

[NiteWulf]

Originally posted by: Metron
That's almost as bad as people who say:

Could care less... (meaning you do care? -- "Couldn't care less")

If you're going to use a cliche, at least get it right!

Sometimes "could care less" is accurate, like when people keep telling you about a problem they want you to help them with. It's like saying that they're lucky that you don't care less, else you wouldn't do anything at all.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: allisolm
My immediate thought was "We don't get French benefits?"

Haha, I know. I love getting french benefits.

 

[sygyzy]

I cannot this is being asked.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Qosis
My friend swears that it's play it by year, I, on the other hand, believe he's been snorting a bit too much cocaine in my absence.

So, weigh in bitches!

it's so ear