slip of the ear
1 of 1phrase/ˈslɪp əv ði ˈɪr/
1
a mishearing or misinterpretation of speech or sound due to perceptual or cognitive factors
A slip of the ear refers to a mistake in hearing or understanding spoken language, where an individual misinterprets or mishears words or phrases. This can happen when background noise is present, when the speaker's pronunciation is unclear, or when the listener's attention is divided. The result may be a misunderstanding of the message, leading to confusion or an incorrect response. For example, someone might hear "I have a cat" as "I have a hat." Slips of the ear are common in everyday conversations and are usually harmless, although they can sometimes lead to humorous or awkward situations.
- A slip of her ear caused the assistant to write down the wrong address from the client's dictation.
- I know you said 10 PM, but there was a slip of the ear on my part because I wrote down 7 PM instead.
- I'm sorry, that was just a slip of my ear.I could have sworn you said we were meeting at 5pm.
- The misquoted statistics in the article were due to a slip of the ear on the reporter's part during the interview.
- The mix-up was due to a slip of their ears rather than inattention - both parties were sure they heard different meeting times.