[PHRASE OF THE WEEK] What's the meaning of Donkey’s ears?

This post has been written by Professor Bruno Coriolano. If you want to learn more about him, read his profile on LinkedIn (Bruno’s profile)

DONKEY’S EARS. Have you ever heard of this phrase? Well, I have. I have heard of it quite recently.

Apparently, it started as DONKEY’S EARS and then for some reason it changed into DONKEY’S YEARS.

CONTEXT:

“I don’t write many short stories these days and I haven’t perpetrated a poem in donkey’s years.”

“Well, here’s to Horatio Nelson coupled with the name of—what the hell is your name, Tubby? I’ve known you for donkey’s ears, but we always said Tubby.”

“This isn’t a battleship war at all; it’s a destroyer-submarine-light cruiser show. They’ll never come out in donkey’s years, not they. They know jolly well we shall scupper ‘em if they so much as dare to show their noses outside the wet triangle.”

“I haven't heard that one for donkey's ears.”

More important than the story, I guess. It its use. What does it mean?

Well, according to the Urban Dictionary:

This is an example of an expression that has altered its spelling over time. "Not for donkey's ears" means not for a very long time and refers to the length of a donkey's ears. However, they gradually stretched from the "donkey" and turned "ears" into "years". The meaning of the expression is the same, if it does make rather less sense than the original.

Given the context, you may assume that it is referring to a long period of time. In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary defines “donkey’s years” (also “donkeys’ years”) as a colloquial usage meaning a very long time.

Click here to read it.

Can you write more sentences using DONKEY’S EARS?

This post has been written by Professor Bruno Coriolano. If you want to learn more about him, read his profile on LinkedIn (Bruno’s profile)

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