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  What it means

  Literally “to wind pasta onto someone’s ears,” this vivid idiom means to feed someone nonsense, to spin a yarn, or to pull the wool over someone’s eyes. It describes the act of deceiving, misleading, or talking someone into believing something false through elaborate storytelling. The image of pasta being wound onto ears perfectly captures the sense of tangled, sticky nonsense being forced into someone’s head.

  Vocabulary

  • nawijać — to wind, to wrap (imperfective)
  • makaron — pasta, noodles
  • uszy — ears (plural of 'ucho')
  • na uszy — onto the ears

  Grammar note

  'Nawijać' is the imperfective infinitive, used here for repeated or ongoing deception. 'Makaron' is the accusative direct object. 'Na uszy' uses 'na' + accusative, indicating direction or target. When the ears belong to a specific person, the dative is added: 'nawijać makaron na uszy komuś' (to wind pasta onto someone's ears).

  Cultural context

  This is a colourful, mildly humorous idiom that is entirely neutral in register — usable among friends, in journalism, or even in formal writing with a light touch. It is often used in political commentary when accusing politicians of spinning stories to voters. The equivalent English idioms are 'to pull the wool over someone's eyes' or 'to sell someone a story'.

  Intermediate

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