Sweet talk someone's ear off

Origin

Imagine a relentless suitor or a smooth-talking salesman from the early 20th century, armed with an endless supply of compliments and honeyed words. The phrase "sweet talk someone's ear off" emerged from this very image, a vivid blend of older idioms. The notion of "talking someone's ear off" is centuries old, a hyperbolic way to describe conversational exhaustion, as if an incessant speaker could literally wear down a listener's anatomy. When the more recent term "sweet talk"—popularized in early 20th-century American English to describe persuasive flattery—married this ancient image of endless chatter, it created a potent expression. It paints a picture of a charmer so determined and verbose in their flattery that they could metaphorically talk an ear clean off, leaving the target exhausted but perhaps, swayed.