«عِينُهْ فِي الطَّبَقْ وِوِدْنُهْ لِمِنْ زَعَقْ»

The image is a person bent over a dish of food, apparently lost in the meal, while quietly tuning in to every voice around him: anyone who speaks up, not only someone who shouts. His outward focus is only a cover; his real attention is fixed on catching whatever others happen to say.

The saying targets someone whose settled habit is collecting information about other people. Nothing truly distracts such a person from listening in; whatever they seem busy with, they keep harvesting news, remarks, and secrets from nearby conversations. The masculine wording follows the grammar and applies to anyone.

Use it as a wry, mildly disapproving remark about someone who seems absorbed in eating or another task but is actually listening in on nearby talk, especially a habitual eavesdropper or gossip-gatherer. It criticizes rather than praises attentiveness and fits informal speech among people who share the dialect.