A: Is there any update to the new energy car company CEO who went broke and fled the country?

B: We hear crickets.

Note: Crickets are typically a background noise that’s easily drowned out by just about anything else. As a metaphor, when someone says we hear crickets, they mean we hear silence, with an implication that it shouldn’t be that way. If someone makes a bad joke or otherwise shockingly inappropriate remark at a dining table, we hear crickets because everyone is shocked into silence. Instead of saying anything, all look down at their plates in an awkward silence.