Is there a word or a phrase that describes someone listening to somebody else speak to him without understanding what is being said while acting like he's getting it?
Learn English – Term or Phrase for “Listening without Understanding”
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Best Answer
There are phrases for it. The most common one is: let it gloss over one.
Another common phrase for it is "selective hearing" / "selective deafness."
Also, there's "tuning out."
An old idiom that explains listening and not understanding is, "It was all Greek to me."
The best one I ever heard was:
Most people can't listen to someone speak without understanding what they're saying, not unless that person is speaking another language. People can tune out and not listen, like think about something else and pretend their listening, but that's not listening.