The guy’s ears are so big that strangers probably offer him directions to the nearest Star Trek convention. (He looks like a Ferengi, which also sort of matches his personality.)
My guess is that she was offended by his inattention to what she was saying. He flips it back by claiming her expectation of polite attention was based entirely on the size of his ears, so HE’s the one entitled to take offense.
I concur. You might think he’s good at listening, but that would be an assumption based on appearances, so he’s OK being offended by that.
Despite not listening, he garnered 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Ever since 1966 I’ve been wondering about the difference between hearing-without-listening and listening-without-hearing. And which is a worse way to be, or will be judged more harshly. People, it’s not straightforward! And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Oh I left out the speech-production side of it. There’s basically only talking-without-speaking.
“Ever since 1966 I’ve been wondering…”
The problem was taken up in the early 80’s by another band.
What are words for?
When no one listens, there’s no use talking at all.
Words, Missing Persons.
In “White Men Can’t Jump” they invert that. The Wesley Snipes character says that white people can listen to Jimi (Hendrix) but the don’t HEAR Jimi.
Minor Annoyance.
That makes sense. I figured he was twisting his being a bad listener (a negative on his part) into an unfair stereotype on his big ears and thus a defense for is negative attribute (it’s not a bad thing that i’m a bad listener; It’s a bad thing that you *assumed* I’d be a good listener just because I have big ears).
[This could go the other way; Guy says to girl: Gad, you’re an *awful* cook. Girl: I’m offended you assumed I’d be a *good* cook just because I’m a woman. The joke here being that being a bad cook, although a deficit, is not actually a *fault* so a “sure, I’m a bad cook, so what? so are you and most men but they aren’t *expected* to be good cooks”, but being a bad listener *is* a fault and complaining that *anyone* is a bad listener is a valid complaint no matter the ear size.]
What I couldn’t figure out was what she could have said to lead up to this. I’ll I could think of was “I’m offended you have big ears” or “I assumed you’d be a good listener because you have big ears” both of which would actually give his ludicrous complaint validity, which would undermine the joke. I overlooked the simple idea that maybe she just complained he was a bad listener.
While we’re quoting music lyrics…
I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear, the wind cannot hear
“I Talk To The Wind”, from In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson, 1969. The wind is not a good listener cos it can’t even hear.
King Crimson is still going (well, Robert Fripp and other people, but that’s been the case for every iteration of the band since about 1970) and I am seeing them in October.
“The wind is not a good listener cos it can’t even hear.”
“And the wind cries,’Mary'”
“All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see. All we are is dust in the wind…”
Can you see the colors in the wind?
“The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
The answer is blowing in the wind.”
Rocks you like a hurricane…
“I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me.”
Or as Eccles used to phrase it on THE GOON SHOW: “I talk to the trees . . . That’s why they put me away. . . “
They’re still playing The Goon Show on BBC Radio 4 Xtra (a digital station with old programmes going back to the 1950s (Beyond Our Ken, The Goon Show) and 1960s (I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, with John Cleese and Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie) but also repeats of current programmes broadcast earlier in the week on main channel Radio 4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072vdz/episodes/player for the currently-available most recent four episodes of the Goons including storylines such as: Neddie Seagoon has a 60-foot caber hidden under his kilt, but the Scots want it back; and Neddie Seagoon turns to witchcraft to thwart Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty.
I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear, the wind cannot hear
And as Quark from Star Trek DS9 would say, “I’m all ears” when another character wanted to tell him something.
There’s a Goon Show Radio internet channel. I sometimes listen to it on my internet radio.
Comics I Don't Understand 
The guy’s ears are so big that strangers probably offer him directions to the nearest Star Trek convention. (He looks like a Ferengi, which also sort of matches his personality.)
My guess is that she was offended by his inattention to what she was saying. He flips it back by claiming her expectation of polite attention was based entirely on the size of his ears, so HE’s the one entitled to take offense.
I concur. You might think he’s good at listening, but that would be an assumption based on appearances, so he’s OK being offended by that.
Despite not listening, he garnered 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Ever since 1966 I’ve been wondering about the difference between hearing-without-listening and listening-without-hearing. And which is a worse way to be, or will be judged more harshly. People, it’s not straightforward! And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Oh I left out the speech-production side of it. There’s basically only talking-without-speaking.
“Ever since 1966 I’ve been wondering…”
The problem was taken up in the early 80’s by another band.
What are words for?
When no one listens, there’s no use talking at all.
Words, Missing Persons.
In “White Men Can’t Jump” they invert that. The Wesley Snipes character says that white people can listen to Jimi (Hendrix) but the don’t HEAR Jimi.
Minor Annoyance.
That makes sense. I figured he was twisting his being a bad listener (a negative on his part) into an unfair stereotype on his big ears and thus a defense for is negative attribute (it’s not a bad thing that i’m a bad listener; It’s a bad thing that you *assumed* I’d be a good listener just because I have big ears).
[This could go the other way; Guy says to girl: Gad, you’re an *awful* cook. Girl: I’m offended you assumed I’d be a *good* cook just because I’m a woman. The joke here being that being a bad cook, although a deficit, is not actually a *fault* so a “sure, I’m a bad cook, so what? so are you and most men but they aren’t *expected* to be good cooks”, but being a bad listener *is* a fault and complaining that *anyone* is a bad listener is a valid complaint no matter the ear size.]
What I couldn’t figure out was what she could have said to lead up to this. I’ll I could think of was “I’m offended you have big ears” or “I assumed you’d be a good listener because you have big ears” both of which would actually give his ludicrous complaint validity, which would undermine the joke. I overlooked the simple idea that maybe she just complained he was a bad listener.
While we’re quoting music lyrics…
I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear, the wind cannot hear
“I Talk To The Wind”, from In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson, 1969. The wind is not a good listener cos it can’t even hear.
King Crimson is still going (well, Robert Fripp and other people, but that’s been the case for every iteration of the band since about 1970) and I am seeing them in October.
“The wind is not a good listener cos it can’t even hear.”
“And the wind cries,’Mary'”
“All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see. All we are is dust in the wind…”
Can you see the colors in the wind?
“The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
The answer is blowing in the wind.”
Rocks you like a hurricane…
“I talk to the trees, but they don’t listen to me.”
Or as Eccles used to phrase it on THE GOON SHOW: “I talk to the trees . . . That’s why they put me away. . . “
They’re still playing The Goon Show on BBC Radio 4 Xtra (a digital station with old programmes going back to the 1950s (Beyond Our Ken, The Goon Show) and 1960s (I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again, with John Cleese and Goodies Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie) but also repeats of current programmes broadcast earlier in the week on main channel Radio 4.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072vdz/episodes/player for the currently-available most recent four episodes of the Goons including storylines such as: Neddie Seagoon has a 60-foot caber hidden under his kilt, but the Scots want it back; and Neddie Seagoon turns to witchcraft to thwart Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty.
I talk to the wind
My words are all carried away
I talk to the wind
The wind does not hear, the wind cannot hear
And as Quark from Star Trek DS9 would say, “I’m all ears” when another character wanted to tell him something.
There’s a Goon Show Radio internet channel. I sometimes listen to it on my internet radio.
And today there’s this – https://www.gocomics.com/barneyandclyde/2018/08/17
My dog has big ears, but he’s not a good listener either.