rubber ear n. an attitude or instance of rejection, refusal, or unresponsiveness; the cold shoulder. Also v., to reject, refuse, or ignore. Editorial Note: Sometimes constructed similar to give (someone) the rubber ear or get the rubber ear. Although the first cite is from an American author, the term is far more common among Scots. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick...
The hit TV show Pluribus featured a scene in a Norwegian ice hotel where guests are assured that once you get used to it, their room is quite cozy, and uses an apt Norwegian idiom describing how they’ll feel: som plommen i egget, or fitting “like a...