How to Read “The toad croaks day and night, but no one listens to it”
Gama wa nichiya nakedo mo hito kore wo kikazu
Meaning of “The toad croaks day and night, but no one listens to it”
This proverb means that when worthless people make noise, nobody pays attention to them. The image shows a toad croaking continuously day and night, yet no one bothers to listen.
It describes situations where people without real ability or value speak loudly. Their claims get ignored by everyone around them.
People use this saying to comment on someone who makes empty statements repeatedly. It also applies to people who assert themselves constantly but lack actual achievements.
You can also use it as a warning to yourself. It reminds us that just making noise has no meaning.
Even today, this expression fits many situations. Think of people who make loud claims on social media but never take action.
Or consider someone in meetings who talks a lot but says nothing substantial. What matters is not how loud your voice is.
The real question is whether your content has value. This proverb reminds us of this essential truth.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb likely comes from ancient Chinese classics. The word “gama” means toad, and the expression describes how its croaking echoes day and night.
Toads were familiar creatures in both Japan and China since ancient times. People living near rice fields regularly heard them croaking loudly at night.
However, their croaking was never considered beautiful. It never attracted people’s attention or admiration.
Unlike bush warblers or cuckoos, nobody appreciated the toad’s voice.
The proverb was born from sharp observation about the relationship between volume and value. No matter how loud or how long you croak, people won’t listen if your content lacks worth.
The creators expressed this harsh reality through the concrete image of a toad.
Japan has several proverbs pointing out the gap between loudness and ability. For example, “A meowing cat catches no mice.”
But “The toad croaks day and night, but no one listens to it” is distinctive. It includes the cold result of being completely ignored.
The structure reveals that our ancestors understood the deep gap between making noise and being heard.
Interesting Facts
A toad’s croaking is actually a mating call. Male toads croak during breeding season to attract females.
For them, it’s a desperate love song. But to human ears, it sounds monotonous and unpleasant.
Even when a sound has important biological meaning, its value disappears if the listener changes. This perfectly embodies the lesson of this proverb.
In classical Japanese literature, bush warblers and cuckoos appear frequently. Their voices were loved as seasonal symbols.
Meanwhile, toads almost never became the main subject of waka poetry or haiku. Even among creatures that make sounds, the treatment varied greatly.
Usage Examples
- That person posts their opinions on social media every day, but the toad croaks day and night, but no one listens to it—nobody responds
- If you just brag without any achievements, you’ll become like the toad croaks day and night, but no one listens to it
Universal Wisdom
This proverb teaches us a universal truth about how human society judges value. No matter how enthusiastically or frequently you broadcast, people won’t listen if your content lacks worth.
This cold reality never changes, no matter what era we live in.
Why do people make such judgments? Because our time and attention are limited resources.
We cannot listen to every voice. People unconsciously filter for “things worth hearing.”
The criteria for this filtering are the speaker’s track record, the content of their words, and their credibility. Not the volume or frequency of their voice.
This proverb has been passed down for generations because many people have experienced that “just making noise won’t earn recognition.”
When young, we tend to think that speaking louder will get us noticed. But eventually we realize something important.
Truly valuable things reach people’s hearts even when spoken quietly.
Our ancestors brilliantly expressed this essence of human society through the familiar creature of the toad.
Don’t misdirect your efforts. Quality over quantity, content over noise.
This teaching holds even deeper meaning in our modern age overflowing with information.
When AI Hears This
The phenomenon of ignoring the toad’s croaking results from the human brain’s “signal and noise sorting process.”
According to signal detection theory, when we receive information, we unconsciously judge whether it’s an “important signal requiring response” or “noise we can ignore.”
This judgment criterion depends on comparing the loss from missing something versus the wasted cost of responding incorrectly.
What’s interesting is that the toad’s croaking has sufficient physical volume, yet the human cognitive system classifies it as a “low-value signal.”
For example, parents immediately respond to a baby’s cry, even if it’s quiet. That’s because the loss from missing it is huge.
Meanwhile, responding to a toad’s voice yields almost zero benefit. Rather, responding every time would deplete our limited attention resources.
So the toad “croaks day and night but isn’t heard” not because its voice is small. It’s because the receiver’s brain calculated that “the value doesn’t match the cost of responding to this signal.”
No matter how hard the sender tries, if the receiver’s benefit calculation judges it worthless, that information becomes the same as nonexistent.
This is the cold truth of communication.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches modern you is this: “Before broadcasting, first build up your value.”
Posting frequently on social media to stand out or increasing your speaking turns in meetings isn’t meaningless. But there’s something more important to do first.
That is enriching your own substance. Deepen your knowledge, accumulate experience, and create achievements.
Only then will your words carry weight and reach people’s hearts. A single quietly spoken word can have stronger influence than a hundred empty ones.
If you feel your voice isn’t reaching people now, it might not be a problem with how you’re speaking.
Rather, it might be time to pause and look inside yourself. Read books, talk with people, and actually take action.
Such steady accumulation will eventually give your words persuasive power.
There’s no need to rush. A valuable voice is something you cultivate over time.
Today’s efforts will give tomorrow’s words their strength.
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