"I do inform the customers that it is against the law _ but Paddy's as deaf as a post, " Maher said . " He'll say, ` What, what, what ?'and then he'll proceed to his spot by the fireplace.
2.
The first simile of the English phrase " as deaf as a post " appears to originate from Acolastus : " How deaf an ear I intended to give him . . . he were as good to tell his tale to a post . " and may be attributed to Palsgrave.