У-177

ХЛОПАТЬ УШАМИ coll, disapprov VP subj: human

1. while listening to sth. , not to understand or grasp what is being said

X ушами хлопает - X looks blank.

...Сослужил Лебедев еще одну службу: подстроил чтение вслух «Тёркина на том свете». Иностранцы ушами хлопали, Хрущёв смеялся... (Солженицын 2). ...Lebedev performed another public service. He arranged a reading of Tyorkin in the Next World." The foreigners looked blank, but Khrushchev laughed... (2a).

2. to be idle, inactive (when the situation requires decisive, energetic action, often under circumstances when taking concrete action would keep sth. harmful from happening or would allow one to obtain sth. valuable, advance one's career etc)

X хлопает ушами - X sits on his hands

X sits around (here, there etc) doing nothing X does nothing.

«Вот, - сказал Трёшкин, проводив Ефима долгим тяжёлым взглядом. - У меня кот пропал, а ему шапку дают из кота. Как же это понять?» - «Если мы будем ушами хлопать, они и из нас шапок наделают», - сказал Черпаков (Войнович 6). There," Tryoshkin said, following Yefim with a long heavy stare. "My tomcat disappears, and they give him a hat made of tomcat fur. How am I to interpret that?" "If we sit here long enough, doing nothing, they'll make hats out of us, too," Cherpakov said (6a).