talk your ear off

Meaning

1. 1phraseidiominformal

   to talk to someone for a long time, especially in a way that is boring or tiring for the listener

   Grammar: The verb talk takes an object pronoun: talk someone's ear off. The possessive matches the listener, not the speaker.

   Patterns

   • talk someone's ear off
   • talk someone's ear off about something

   My uncle talked my ear off about politics at dinner last night.

   She can talk your ear off if you ask her about her garden.

   The salesman talked my ear off for an hour before I could leave.

Common combinations

talk someone's ear off about something

He talked my ear off about his new car.

talk someone's ear off for hours

They talked my ear off for hours at the party.

talk someone's ear off on the phone

My sister talked my ear off on the phone last night.

Synonyms and how they differ

chatter

Chatter means to talk quickly and continuously about unimportant things, but it does not focus on the effect on a listener.

go on

Go on means to continue talking, often in a boring way, but it does not require a person as the object.

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “talk your ear off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words