Why, you and ten like you couldn't put a Danaher on his ear!

"Why, you and ten like you couldn't put a Danaher on his ear!"

                             ~ Red Will Danaher to Trooper Thornton, in The Quiet Man (film)


As "Trooper Thornton" (John Wayne) apologizes to "Red Will" Danaher for upsetting him in a land deal, Thornton uses an expression, "I didn't mean to put you on your ear."

Danaher very angrily says, "Why, you and ten like you couldn't put a Danaher on his ear!"

Thornton used it in a casual, friendly way, meaning that he hadn't meant to upset Danaher or make him mad. Danaher, in his angry response, used it as a fighting term, perhaps interpreting it literally as having his ear pinned to the mat of a boxing ring. This is particularly significant in the film, in which the community is just spoiling to see Thornton and Danaher duke it out (no pun intended on "Duke").

English Language and Usage: Origin of 'Set on Its Ear.'

Filmsite Movie Review: The Quiet Man (1952)


Expression: put on your ear, put on his ear, set you on your ear