History Main / InOneEarOuttheOther

[[caption-width-right:350:"And just ''what'' makes you think I have nothing between the ears?"]]

[[quoteright:345:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inoneear_5709.png]]

* The trope name is an almost word-for-word translation of a French expression ("Ça rentre par une oreille et ça sort par l'autre" -- "it enters through one ear and exits through the other") used for people who do not pay any attention to what is said to them. This trope name has also been adopted to identical meaning in at least the American English vernacular.

* The Creator/{{Bjork}} music video for "I Miss You" is part live action, part animated (by [[Series/RenAndStimpy John Kricfalusi]]) and features a sexy cartoon Flintstones-like 'cave girl' version of Bjork with a bone going through her ears. This is ''far'' from [[DerangedAnimation the weirdest sight to appear in the video.]]

A varation of this trope does not involve physical objects ''going'' into the ear, but rather a POV shot of a character's ear showing an unobsructed view through their empty head and out the opposite ear. At least it proves they're not too [[{{Pun}} dense]] for [[UsefulNotes/BlackHoles light to escape them]].

If a living creature does this to another character's ears this overlaps with OrificeInvasion

* Several versions of this trope turned up over the years in the pages of ''WeeklyWorldNews'' ranging from a man with transparent brain tissue (so one could shine a light in one ear and have it come out the other), to a young Kansas woman who discovered someone blowing in her ear would result in a breeze coming out the other side to a dimwitted Californian surfer dude who was cleaning his ear with a q-tip, and "not finding much resistance" decided to see how far it could go (right out the other ear it turns out, which the surfer found "way cool").

* The French comic ''ComicBook/LesBlondes'' had a joke around this. A DumbBlonde is listening to some gossip on her cell phone and laughing out loud. Her equally blonde friend asks her what the gossip is and the first blonde tells her to stick her ear next to the first blonde's other ear, allowing her to listen in on the phonecall. It works. A later strip had a similar joke involving an iPod an the two girls sharing a single set of earbuds.

* Tom was very frequently the target of this trope in the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons, for example getting a fishbowl stuck on his head and having a goldfish swim through his ears.

* In the first ScaryMovie, this happens to Ray. [[{{Squick}} With a penis.]]

* The [[http://24.media.tumblr.com/4c9147b806414d015c1618b7f63f9a8a/tumblr_mka8od2b7q1rthgz2o1_1280.jpg?.jpg poster]] for ''ScaryMovie V'' has a devilish looking Katrina Bowden sticks her tongue into Sarah Hyland's right ear, with the forked tip flickering playfully out the left ear (Hyland's expression while this is going on is hilarious.)

* An old episode of ''NightGallery'' had a man in a jungle being tortured by having an earwig tunnel through his head, going through one ear and out the other. He survived, but [[spoiler: it left eggs inside]]. Needless to say, the whole thing was biologically wrong.

* Invoked in the ''HannahMontana'' episode 'Get Down, Study-udy-udy':

* One episode of ''TheBeverlyHillbillies'' features Granny giving Jethro a physical before he joins the army. At one point she is using a candle to look into his ear then, still looking in the same ear, moves the candle to the other side of his head. She blows in the original ear, snuffing the candle out.

[[folder:Comedy]]
* Many DumbBlonde jokes feature a variation on this trope, including the page image and the commercial below.
[[/folder]]

The ear drum is a sensory organ within the ear canal, and can be damaged if you stick an object deep enough in it. This is not the case in cartoons. In the toon world, the ears are there so sound (or just about anything) can go directly into the brain (or out the other ear if the character has no brain to speak of).

* In the ''HannahMontana'' episode 'Get Down, Study-udy-udy':

[[AC: Comic Books]]
* The French comic ''ComicBook/LesBlondes'' had a joke around this. A DumbBlonde is listening to some gossip on her cell phone and laughing out loud. Her equally blonde friend asks her what the gossip is and the first blonde tells her to stick her ear next to the first blonde's other ear, allowing her to listen in on the phonecall. It works. A later strip had a similar joke involving an iPod an the two girls sharing a single set of earbuds.

[[AC: Comedy]]
* Many DumbBlonde jokes feature a variation on this trope, including the page image and the commercial below.

[[AC: Commercials]]

[[AC: Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/HotShots''

[[AC: Films - Animated]]
* [[Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit Roger Rabbit]] scratches through his ears with a file.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} and Cleopatra'', when the workers are on lunch break, Artifis addresses them. One turns his head towards him but keeps moving his spoon, sending food into his ear until it comes through.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'' one of Rita's countless hyperactive younger brothers experimentally sticks a spoon into one of his ears at meal time and cheerfully pulls it out the opposite ear.
* In ''Film/SpaceJam'', doctor Daffy examines Michael Jordan's ear and is able to see Bugs through the other ear.
* [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Dopey]] clears water out of his ears by ''blowing'' it out.
* In ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', Gideon the cat tries to listen to what the coachman is whispering to Honest John by putting his ear to John's other ear. When he can't hear anything, he cleans out the ear with his finger. He also earns bonus points by plugging up his own other ear to make sure nothing comes out.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]
* The cover of Music/{{Accept}}'s third album ''Breaker'' has a woman who has barbed wire going through her ears like this.
** {{Homage}}d on the cover of Breaker's ''Accept'' EP, with this done to a dog.

[[AC: Music Video]]

[[AC: Newspaper Comics]]
* In an early 1980s ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' strip, Garfield witnesses a bug flying into Odie's ear... only to come out of the other one. Smiling, he thinks/speaks to himself: "Figures."
** In a later strip Jon whispers into Odie's ear what he is going to get Garfield for Christmas, only to stop when he notices Garfield listening at Odie's ''other'' ear.
* A 1960s ''ThePerishers'' strip had Maisie being chased by Wellington with a water pistol. Maisie asked Marlon for help, only to have Wellington squirt the gun into Marlon's ear, straight through his head, into Maisie's face. Marlon, of course, hardly noticed.

[[AC: Print Media]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC: Web Comic]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "Beanstalk Bunny", Daffy Duck and WesternAnimation/BugsBunny enter the giant Elmer Fudd's head through opposite ears.
* [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Stimpy's]] brain is often falling out through his ear.
* [[TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]] was once seen sticking a rag through one ear and out the other to give his brain a good flossing.

* In an episode of ''TotalDramaIsland'' a bug flies into one of Geoff's ears and right out the other.
* In a ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode of ''TheSimpsons'' Bart was attacked by a fleet of tiny spaceships. One flew into his left ear and flew out his right apparently without causing any damage other than a little discomfort.

** Yet another episode has Moe, depressed over Christmas, run through a monatage of failed suicide attempts ([[BungledSuicide all played for laughs.]]) At one point he sticks a relvover in one of his ears, pulls the trigger and a 'bang' flang pops harmlessly out his other ear, much to his frustration.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Friend In Deed", Pinkie Pie blows on a horn which goes right into Cranky Doodle Donkey's ear and out the other side.

-->'''Photographer:''' Alright. Which one of you is the smart one?
-->'''Madison:''' [[InOneEarOutTheOther (while a butterfly flies through her entire head)]] [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance That's me!]]

* TexAvery's M-G-M cartoon "Dog-Gone Tired" has a hunter's dog trying to stave off noises instigated by the rabbit he's to hunt in the morning by pulling a pillow through his ears.

* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' cartoon "I Don't Scare" a goldfish bowl, complete with goldfish, is knocked into the air and lands on Olive Oyl's head. The goldfish happily swims into Olive's left ear and out her right without meeting any obstruction.

[[AC:Real Life]]

* The trope name is an almost word for word translation of a French expression ("Ça rentre par une oreille et ça sort par l'autre" - "it enters through one ear and exits through the other") used for people who do not pay any attention to what is said to them.
** This trope name has also been adopted to identical meaning in at least the American English vernacular.

* In the first ''Film/HotShots'' film, Admiral Benson demonstrates this with a handkerchief through the ears, explaining it as a result of one of his [[RunningGag many war wounds]].
** And don't forget the movie poster.

* A BlackComedy example in ''FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare''. Freddy torments a deaf teen named Carlos by sticking a very long q-tip so far into his ear that it pops out Carlos' opposite ear.

A varation of this trope does not involve physical objects ''going'' into the ear, but rather a POV shot of a character's ear showing an unobsructed view through their empty head and out the opposite ear. At least it proves they're not too [[Pun dense]] for [[UsefulNotes/BlackHoles light to escape them]].

* One of the [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heathers_heathers.png publicity shots]] for ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' has Heather McNamara whispering into Heather Chandler's right ear, while Heather Duke clings to Chandler's left shoulder, leaning close to Chandler's left ear to listen in.

A varation of this trope does not involve physical objects ''going'' into the ear, but rather a POV shot of a character's ear showing an unobsructed view through their empty head and out the opposite ear.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "Beanstalk Bunny", Daffy Duck and Characters/BugsBunny enter the giant Elmer Fudd's head through opposite ears.

* In ''Film/LoadedWeapon1'', when MsFanservice asks TheHero to "blow in my ear," doing so results in a hollow jug-sound and her hair on the other side being disturbed.

* In ''{{Asterix}} and Cleopatra'', when the workers are on lunch break, Artifis addresses them. One turns his head towards him but keeps moving his spoon, sending food into his ear until it comes through.

* At one point in ''DominicDeegan'', Spark notes that Quilt doesn't have a brain. When Donovan (on one side of Quilt) asks why he thinks that, Spark (sitting on the other side) looks through Quilt's ears and says, "I can see you."

* In the ''GoofTroop'' episode "Inspector Goofy" Pete is trying to convince the city to hire Goofy, claiming he has an 'open mind', which he demonstrates by lifting up Gooofy's ears and revealing one can look in and see straight through the other.

-->'''Bob Hope''':''Looks like this man is officer material!''