deaf as a post

Unable to hear or to listen. The simile dates from the six- teenth century, when J. Palsgrave wrote (Acolastus, 1540), “He wotteth ful lyttel how deffe an eare I intended to gyue him . . . he were as good to tell his tale to a poste.” It caught on and has survived to the present, outliving such similes as deaf as an adder (first recorded in the Book of Psalms, 58:4–5), deaf as a beetle, and deaf as a white cat. See also FALL ON DEAF EARS; TURN A BLIND EYE/DEAF EAR.