/ˈfiːl ʊm diː ˈoːʁən ˌhaːbn̩/ lit. ‘a lot around your ears’
German idiom, colloquial. To have a lot of work or problems to deal with at once.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Viel um die Ohren haben
?
Colloquial and common at work and at home, often as a polite excuse: “tut mir leid, ich habe gerade viel um die Ohren”. You can swap “viel” for “so viel”, “zu viel” or “allerhand”, and it works in any tense, as in “ich hatte in letzter Zeit viel um die Ohren”. It covers piles of work as well as piles of worries, which matches English Wiktionary’s gloss “to be busy, to have a lot to worry about”.
Viel um die Ohren haben
in real sentences
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Ich hatte in letzter Zeit viel um die Ohren.
I’ve been very busy lately.
Tatoeba, sentence by freddy1, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Tom hatte so viel um die Ohren, dass er das Mittag ausfallen ließ.
Tom was so busy he skipped lunch.
Tatoeba, sentence by AC, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Viel um die Ohren haben
come from?
Nobody knows for sure. The Redensarten-Index thinks it probably refers to the noise of work or the buzz of many voices around your head, and it finds an early example in Carl Heinrich’s Swedish-German dictionary of 1814.
Mistakes learners make with Viel um die Ohren haben
Confusing it with “jemandem etwas um die Ohren hauen” (to hit someone around the ears with something, or to tear their work apart). Having a lot around your ears means you’re busy, while hitting someone around the ears with it means you’re angry.
Other German idioms like Viel um die Ohren haben
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