Write behind your ears
Writing behind the ears is a saying .
Write that behind the ears means that they should remember something well. You can also explain it with “write on the chest”.
The idiom goes back to an old legal custom: In the Middle Ages , the children of the negotiating partners were brought in for important regulations such as the establishment of borders so that they could testify as living witnesses in the next generation if necessary. So that they did not forget the location of the border points, they were given a few slaps at each point. So you “wrote” the position of the border points behind their ears.
This custom is already documented by the Ripuarian Franks and is said to have been practiced in Bavaria in the 18th century. In the 19th century it was assumed in Swabia at the annual field inspection boys with whom one at key border points slaps administered so they can remember the boundaries of the village as long as possible.
The administration of mnemonic slaps in the face was quite common in the Middle Ages. As well as the budding were knights during the ceremony of knighthood slapped, so they do the ceremony and their stored there vows can remember well.
The request to write something behind the ears is mostly used today in connection with a reprimand or lecture .
swell
- Duden , 11th edition, 1992, p. 592
- Lutz Röhrich : Lexicon of proverbial sayings . 2nd edition, Herder , Freiburg / B. 2010 (original edition 1991), ISBN 978-3-9811483-8-1 , Volume 2 (H – S), pp. 1114–1115.
