fly on the wall | Idiomator

Meaning: (idiomatic)Aquiet,non-participating, or unseenobserver; aneavesdropperorwitness.1918August 9, “Clark Would Draft Even Men of 68”, inNew York Times, retrieved 28 Oct. 2008, page11:James W. Gerard, ex-Ambassador to Germany, the first speaker of the evening, said that at that moment he would like to be afly on the wallof the palace at Potsdam to hear what the Potsdam gang were saying about our soldiers.1979February 3, Jil Clark, quoting Margareth Miller, “Major Court Decision Allows Lesbian Mother to Retain Custody”, inGay Community News, volume 6, number27, page 1:I wish I'd been a littlefly on his chamber wallwhen he found out that he had to go through the Michigan Child Custody Act!

Examples:

EN: To be a fly on the wall!
ES: ¡Será una nimiedad!
EN: I wish I was a fly on the wall just to see what he is doing now!
ES: Ojalá fuese mosca para ver lo que hace.
EN: I'm not a fly on the wall.
ES: Yo no escucho tras las puertas.
EN: Wish I was a fly on the wall.
ES: Como una mosca en la pared.
EN: I'd like to be a fly on the wall when you do, Mr. Carden.
ES: Me gustaría estar presente cuando se lo diga, Sr. Carden.
EN: A fly on the wall.
ES: Quería estar presente.
EN: Sometimes, I really wish I was a fly on the wall.
ES: A veces, me gustaría ser una mosca de la pared.
EN: We're making a film about what it's really like to be a fly on the wall.
ES: Hacemos un reportaje sobre la vida de la mosca de la pared.
EN: What's it like being a fly on the wall?
ES: ¿Cómo es la vida de una mosca de la pared?
EN: All I'm asking you to do is be a fly on the wall.
ES: Lo único que te pido es que abras los ojos.
EN: But I'd certainly like to be a fly on the wall at Green Gables.
ES: Cuánto quisiera ser una observadora desapercibida en Tejas Verdes.
EN: I could only wish I were a fly on the wall.
ES: Desearía ser una mosca en la pared.
EN: It'd be best if you thought of me as a fly on the wall and went about your business.
ES: Será mejor que no me haga mucho caso y que vuelva a su trabajo.
EN: - A fly on the wall, huh?
ES: - Debo ignorarle, ¿no?
EN: - I'd like to be a fly on the wall that night.
ES: - Quisiera ser una mosca esa noche.

Note: the examples for non latin scripts have a high likelihood of mistakes, we do not own any of this data and it is sourced from Wiktionary, the NLLB database and Opensubtitles. Please help us improve this by contributing correct examples. We will be working to fix this issue over time however it is a bigger issue due to the the difficulties in dealing with non latin scripts and grammatical structures(non-romantic/european languages have lower resources as well ).