20 Weird Nordic Sayings (Idioms & Phrases From Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland)
Support the channel on Patreon: ✔️ SUPPORT The Channel on Patreon: patreon.com/robetrotting
In this video we talk about some of the most weird, and funny Nordic sayings. We examine phrases and idioms from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland and quiz each other on the meanings.
In the video we also try to find idioms in American English that compliment the Nordic idioms we cover. We have a lot of fun laughing at the hilarious English translations of these Nordic phrases, and hope that you like our reactions.
The Nordic languages and cultures have given us some really neat sayings and we hope you will let us know your favorites and add some new ones that we missed!
#denmark #nordic #idioms #sweden #norway #finland #iceland #language
➡ WATCH NEXT: Danish Language Playlist: • Danish Language
💸 SEND MONEY INTERNATIONALLY? Get a FREE transfer up to 500 GBP with Wise (formerly TransferWise) using our link: wi.se/robetrotting
📺 VPN NEEDS: Try NordVPN Risk-Free for 30 days - nordvpn.com/robe
👕 MERCH SHOP: robetrotting.myspreadshop.net/
SOCIAL MEDIA:
✅ Follow us on Instagram: / robetrotting
✅ Like us on Facebook: / robetrotting
✅ Follow us on TikTok: / robetrotting
✅ Follow us on LinkedIn: / robetrotting
✔️ SUPPORT The Channel on Patreon: patreon.com/robetrotting
🌭 Buy Us A Pølse: www.buymeacoffee.com/robetrot...
For more information about expat life in Denmark and living in Copenhagen, check out our blogs:
✔️ Robe Trotting: robe-trotting.com and
✔️ Everything Copenhagen: everythingcopenhagen.com
INQUIRIES: 📧 martin@bentertained.dk (Note: We do not offer private tours, immigration advice, or housing advice in Denmark and only have the time to respond to business/media inquiries)
DISCLOSURE:
This is NOT sponsored content, but if you purchase something after clicking on links we may earn a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP FAMILY:
/ robet. .
🎥 Our Equipment:
(Support this channel, by buying through these affiliate links)
Hohem iSteady SmartPhone Gimbal: amzn.to/35azgF7
Rode SmartLav+ Mics: amzn.to/3zghnlT
Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSLR Camera: amzn.to/358KvxU
Hama | Star 61 Camera Tripod: amzn.to/3wber8t
Mountdog Softbox Lighting Kit: amzn.to/3g6VfTE
Mountdog 18" Ring Light: amzn.to/3wh2pKE
In Danish I've never heard the one about the beard in the mailbox - it's the hair :)
Quick correctiom here for the one more time for Prince Knud: this actually a sentence originating from a one time event. Prince Knud was at the theater, and there was a passage he couldn’t see completly. The reason beeing that the royal section of the theater seats, is located on the far side of the balcony. The director asked Prince Knud at the end of the show, what he thought of it, he then answered that he liked it, but missed part of this particular scene. The director then ordered the actors to play that part one more time for Prince Knud. And the frace was born.
Exactly. Too bad for Prins Knud, that now, the story is that he was a bit dumb.
In Finland our own phrase for " not the sharpest pencil" is " Ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa." " they don't have all the Moomins in the valley" referring to Tove Janssons Moonvalley books.
"At hyppe sine egne kartofler" is not digging them up. It's pushing up soil around the potatoes to prevent them going green. So to protect them basically.
Ah, okay. So it's digging up the soil around them. My bad :)
Yeah, it's actually the opposite of digging them up. You put more soil on them. Done that many times as a kid.
@@RobeTrottingyes it’s protecting your own interests. Like a politician working to make a city more child friendly. You might think he cares about children, but no, han hypper bare sine egne kartofler, meaning he only does it to make the parents vote for him.
@@RobeTrotting Your bath? 🥰
=egoism
In Norway, it's "to get your beard stuck/caught in the mailbox". So it's not necessarily getting caught, but always about finding yourself in an unwanted situation, usually because of a mistake.
Possibly the original phrase was 'get your beard stuck in a pulley' (as on a ship).
same thing in Danish - caught in a tricky situation
A situation that going nowhere 😅
Eller “at stå med håret ned ad nakken”; “at stå med håret ned i postkassen” - same meaning but for Women! (Having put yourself In an embarrassing situation).
exactly. And in Denmark i is the hair - not the beard
Some other great Danish expresssions are: Flueknepperi, or fly fucking, it is when you are nitpicking on small irrelevant details. At slå koldt vand i blodet, or pour cold water in your blood, is a thing you would say to someone getting aggressive or angry. Basically, take a chill pill. At være ved sine fulde fem, or being at their full five. It means to be attentative, or thinking clearly, having full use of all their senses. At have rotter på loftet, or having rats in the attic is what you would call someone being acting idiotic, or a bit crazy. At have lang fingre, or having long fingers, means that a person has a tendency to steal things. At trække torsk i land, or to pull cod on to land. It means to snore very loudly. Lokummet brænder, or the shitter (toilet) is burning, is when everything is going wrong, or very close to going wrong. At slå en streg, or to hit a string, is what a male can say when he has to go and pee. Altenatvily you can also say that you have to "hælde vand fra kartoflerne", or pour water from the potatoes. And finally, at skide grønne grise, or shitting green pigs. It means to be very afraid or nervous. "I was crossing the road, and out of nowhere this car speeds by missing by inches, I almost shat green pigs I tell you!"
I am Swedish and thought to nuance one of the expressions that was brought up. We also use "born with a silver spoon in your mouth" for people who are born into financial prosperity. As for "sliding in on a shrimp sandwich" it's more about being lucky or receiving special favors.
Yes, “sliding in on a shrimp sandwich” is more like “being served on a silver platter”.
In Denmark.. a silverspoon up your a$$... 😂
And in at least western Norway, but probably also mid and north, there's being "født med gullhår i ræven", being born with gold asshairs..
@@HrHaakon Fantastiskt, den har aldrig hört! Really good one.
Another Swedish one: "Du har inte alla indianer i kanoten" = "You don't have all your indians in the canoe". Same meaning as "not the sharpest knife in the drawer". I like to annoy / mess with people by combining them: "You're not the sharpest canoe in the henhouse" My favorite saying though: "Än är det ingen ko på isen" = "There's no cow on the ice yet", which means something like "don't worry, there's still time" or "there's no immediate danger"
Or "the wheel is spinning, though the hamster is dead" (hjulet snurrar fast hamstern är död), "not all horses are at home/in the stable" "the elevator doesn't go all the way up" also means not the sharpest knife in the box.
"Det kommer til at tage en krig" (It's gonna take a war) means - it's gonna take a really long time I said this when I was in the States, and I got some looks... I can't even remember what we were talking about - I just remember the puzzled looks that I got
Falling between chairs is also common in Norway.
It's catching on with my colleagues in the States too - slowly we'll spread it all over 😂
Oh I just remembered you can wish somebody to go where the pepper grows. Jeg ønsker ham hen hvor peberet gror. So wishing somebody far far away.
Same: "Gid du sad på Sprogø", as back in the day it was a place that was pretty hard to get away from.
To "seat yourself between two chairs" means that you try to have two (conflicting) roles. It more resembles the English term "try to wear two hats".
Interesting, in Swe we say sit on two chairs in that case. Falling between two chairs means an issue isn't being addressed because both parties think it's someone else's responsibility. But that expression is long established in English.
@@mellertid falling between two chairs also has the same meaning in Danish :)
5:00 You can also have a fox behind your ear - "En räv bakom örat" in Swedish. Which means to be unpredictable and cunning.
That one's also in Norway.
"Hold tungen lige i munden" = "keep the tongue straight in the mouth" is something you say when you are about to make a difficult task and you have to concentrate.
Oh, that's a good one - and it makes sense (and sometimes helpful for speaking Danish) haha
That's common in Sweden as well. We say "Hålla tungan rätt i mun" and it means exactly what you said.
'Shooting flies with a cannon' - in Denmark we actually shoot house sparrows (directly translated). Same expression :) Lots of similar expressions in the Nordic just different ways of saying them.
One I like is "Mosekonen brygger." As in the "Bogwife is brewing." Means that it is becoming foggy. Also a good slang for late at night. "Klokken lort om natten." / "Shit O' clock at night."
The correct English idiom (and I am English) is “falling between two stools”. It’s when in trying to achieve 2 objectives you compromise and achieve neither i.e. you need to settle on one or other of 2 stools to avoided a pratfall. Falling down cracks, sounds more like just avoiding everyday pitfalls.
The Danish variant specifically addresses when a task doesn't specifically fit any one particular type so it ends up being nobody's responsibility, and therefore doesn't get taken care of. It is, however, commonly used a bit more loosely which has diluted the meaning a little. But I certainly see the similarities.
@@andersjjensen The same goes for the Swedish saying.
I like “Goddag mand, økseskaft” (good day man axe handle/shaft) something you can say when people talk about different things but think they are talking about the same 😅
It is worth noting that the expresssion comes from an anecdote from the 1770's, so it is a very old.
@@grokta This has migrated to finnish aswell.
In Finland we do not write behind the ear, but we are putting it behind the ear. And speaking of the goat: Pukki kaalimaan vartijana = a goat guarding a cabbage patch (fox guarding the hen house)
Ah, interesting - pretty close. Possibly more efficient of a variation :)
But in Denmark we say “to write it behind the ear”. So you got that right 👍😀
“Empty barrels rumbels the most”, “small dogs barks loudest” was two sayings l came to think about.
In Denmark we also use the phrase "Born with a silver spoon in your mouth". We say fx "han er født med en sølvske I munden"
Still better than: Født med en guldske i røven.
Same in Norway.
Eller født med en guldske i røven ? Måske kun i Nordjylland?
Ah. We used to say that they were born with a golden spoon up their arse. Maybe that’s just in my family. lol
Or that you things served on a silver platter. “For alt servers på et sølvfad.
Here are a few danish idioms/sayings that are commonly used 😊 When people say “det er først til mølle” it comes from the saying “den der kommer først til mølle får først malet mel” (he who gets to the mill first also gets his flour first) So if someone says “I have a couple of free tickets to this movie if anyone is interested, det er først til mølle” it just means that whoever says yes first gets the tickets. Kind of like early bird gets the worm. “Nød lærer nøgen kvinde at spinde” (necessity teaches a naked woman to spin (yarn)) which is self explanatory 😊 “Brændt barn skyr ilden” (burned child avoids fire) means that people learn from past experience(s) to avoid something bad/unpleasant. “Blind høne finder også korn” or “Selv en blind høne kan finde et korn” (even a blind chicken can find a grain) Can be friendly heckling or a not so friendly comment. It means that even someone dull can occasionally have a bright idea, or someone incapable/useless can sometimes succeed/be useful etc. “Hvis du ikke kan life lugten I bageriet…” (if you dislike the smell in the bakery…) means if you don’t like it here then leave! Very direct and not very nice, but sometimes necessary 😅 Another similar, but often used about one self is “Skik følge eller land fly” (follow traditions or leave the country) pretty much means that you have to adapt to the environment/setting you are in, or leave if that’s not possible. If you for instance have to try something that Danes do/like that seems unpleasant to you, you can say “well, skik følge eller land fly” before you do it, to show that you are embracing your new country/culture even if it means tasting salty licorice 😜 That reminds me that I once read, that of all the European emigrants that arrived in the US around 120-80 years ago and settled as immigrants, the Danes were the ones that were best at integrating 😊 I think this attitude also plays a part in Danes often being accused of being “racist” or “xenophobic” Danes are not very (as in not at all) tolerant of people who behaves entitled or wants to change things (here) that we consider important to us or even part of our national identity. Then this “if you don’t like the smell in the bakery…” attitude comes forth 😅 However, if people come here with humbleness and a genuine desire to embrace us Danes, our culture, language and at least accept our traditions and values, then I feel, we as a people generally are a very friendly, easygoing and accepting bunch ☺️ In other words, if you move here, you don’t have to celebrate Christmas if you don’t want to, that’s your business, but don’t you dare criticize or complain about our Christmas lights and decorations everywhere 😂😂
skik følge eller land fly - to me is the same as: When in Rome (do as the Romans)
Den med lugten i bageriet er en forkortelse af: Hvis man ikke kan lide duften af friskbagt brød, bør man forlade bageriet. Underforstået: I et bageri lugter der uomgængeligt af friskbagt brød, det kan ikke laves om.
Fascinating, to know, thank you!
Eller som Rune T kidde siger. Den der kommer først til mølle får malede rotter i rugmelet.
@@hassegreiner9675 that’s a very polite way of saying “deal with it or p_ss off” 😉
In the swedish language the "You can make cabbage of something" does also exist, but it's more "take cabbage on you", which is "ta kål på dig"
Oh nice! I bet there’s plenty of other influences back and forth too 😊
@@RobeTrotting oh absolutely, just wanted to put in my five cents here, also, in the swedish version, it can also mean to destroy or outright "unalive" someone, so yeah, also, will add in general, do love your videos and how much you investigate into stuff and things, as a dane it's fun to see the "outsider"-perspective
Again a very nice video 🎉🎉🎉🎉 "En gang til for prins knud" you're background was wrong, the fraise comes from this: arveprins Knud, was in the theatre, he loved going there, but he was in the royal seats, and some of the stage he couldn't see, and one of the scenes, he therefore couldn't see, so when the director asked him about the play, he was happy, but sad he couldn't see that scene, so after everyone left, the director ask the actors to perform this scene again for him. So they did. The next day, the newspapers made fun of him with the fraise one more time for prins Knud. That stuck to him.
You should definitly do a part 2 of this. So many idioms to choose from.
A funny phrase from Jutland that resembles not being “the sharpest knife” is: “He’s not the quickest moped on the harbor”. 😄
More common in Sweden than not having all hens not home roosting is the phrase "not having all horses home" (inte ha alla hästar hemma) or "having gnomes in the attic" (ha tomtar på loftet).
And instead of "having a hen to pluck" I use " goose"
In Danish it's rats in the attic :)
@@Mark-xh8md ikke den hurtigeste knallert på havnen
@@Kboman Også den ja
We do have one saying with chicken: "1 feather are becoming to 5 chickens" (1 fjer bliver til 5 høns) It means that a rumor can develop very quickly as it is told from person to person The frase is based on a fairytale from Hans Christian Andersen
Ah, that's another good one! :)
sorry Kirsten, but u have got to check up on the grammar some day :D
ved egentlig ikke hvorfor jeg skriver på engelsk :D
selv en blind høne kan finde et guldkorn (even a blind chicken (hen) can find a golden corn.
@@jeppehannibal7821 well Jeppe Inglish is maj best 😆
The best say I've ever heard is from Finland: "Wish in your left hand and sh*t in your right hand and see what hand fills up first." Meaning that action allways gives more results than wishes, even though the outcome (lol) may not allways be the preferred.
Great video, as usual Guys!
Ingen ko på isen - no need to be concerned (yet) (Swedish) Ta kål på - finish,kill, end Mycket skrik och lite ull (sa kärringen som klippte grisen) - much ado about nothing, lots of messy work w little to show for it Fyllekaja - drunk as a skunk Inte illa pinkat (av en trähäst) - unexpectedly well-done, grudging praise to someone you didn’t this from
We have a danish version of shooting flies with a cannon. To shoot house sparrows with cannons (At skyde gråspurve med kanoner)
The frace "I meet you at the beach" Came from thats where the boats cames in. So thats gave some point.
These sayings are fun and we have a multitude of them! ***************** svesken på disken - prunes on the counter = put the facts on the table OR the crasser version, 'lorten på bordet' sove som en sten - sleep like a stone = sleep heavily & soundly hello from Hundested 🌸
Hi, still love your videos! :D Goats: Dont forget the “gummiged” ( Wheel loader) ;)
På dansk er det ikke fluer som skydes med kanoner men gråspurve. "Shooting sparrows with cannons". :D
I really like this one :)
You two GUYS are soooo adoreable. I just LOOOOVE your loving vision on DENMARK. You have such a warm relation with our country. You have really adopter being Danish. Its so admireable. I Watch all your videos. ( this is MY daugthers page) kisses from Susanne, also in DENMARK
Another favourite Swedish idiom of mine is he or she is "lite bakom flötet" literally "a little behind the float (on the fishing rod)" meaning he or she is not the shapest knife in the box.
As a Norwegian I probably shouldn't comment on the Icelandic saying, being in danger of making a fool of myself. But "I ser de i fjørå (Eg ser deg i fjøra)" would make sense in the dialect I grew up with. I think the more correct translation would be shore, not beach. We basically the word for where the boats were pulled ashore. While technically the beach would fall in the category of where the sea meets the land, no one in the right mind would call all the places we called "fjøra" by the word beach (we would use "strand" for that). The saying I wouldn't be surprised if it came from "We'll settle this ashore" eg. when we get off the boat, or as you said "I know where you live" eg. I know where you pull your boat up/I know where you park your car. Also I've never heard the saying "Bæsje i skuffen", but we'd use something that's basically the same "Drite på drage(t)."
That makes a little more sense, especially thinking of what the origin would be derived from. Thanks for adding this :)
It makes a lot of sense since there’s no room for arguing or fighting on a ship. People need to pay attention to their surroundings and they need to cooperate to sail the ship. So if there’s any disagreements they’ll have to deal with it when on land.
"Eg finner deg i fjøro", "I will find you at low tide". Fjøra is the part of the seashore that is submersed when the tide is in and "laid dry"as the tide goes out, low tide. As a norwegian from the west cost, I find icelandic to be one of the easier laguages to understand. But not as "easy" as Faroese.
"Caught with your pants down" is what we use most of the time in jytland. I've maybe heard the other idiom 2-3 times over here :D I enjoy watching the videos you guys post.
'Å bæsja i skuffen' is an infinitive, ie: to poop in the drawer.
En gang til for prins Knud is also that he I think was watching a ballet or a play but fell asleep/missed a big part of it, so they put on the show again so he could watch it propperly, and therefor the saying, when someone has to have something repeated to them/shown to them again.
Oh, that's genius! I didn't realize the full story - I love that saying even more now haha
Actually, Prince Knud and his wife were at the premiere of the ballet “Det forsinkede staevnemoede” (The delayed date) but missed a saucy scene as it could not be seen from their reserved seat, so the theatre director ordered the dancers to repeat that scene only for Knud and his wife. That episode became popularized in a cabaret song, but today the understanding still is that someone is too slow to understand.
Similar to having not all the hens at home we also say in Sweden that the elevator doesn't reach all the way to the top. Kinda means the same thing.
Regarding "shooting flies with a cannon", this has a variant in Danish as "skyde gråspurve med kanoner". It also exists in English (particularly used in casual speech or writing among mathematicians, AFAIK) as "a nuclear flyswatter", e.g. "This may be a bit of a nuclear flyswatter, but you _could_ argue that by Fermat's Last Theorem blah blah blah", concluding something relatively trivial using something vastly more general or complicated - usually unnecessarily so.
Fun video 🤗
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it :)
I'm Norwegian and have never heard about pooped in the drawer. But we use du har drete på leggen/draget "now you have pooped on your calf" It also means you have screwed up. Norwegians also use something fell between two chairs.
FInnish: To be/feel pissed (at something or because of something) like a small squirrel (bc the cone is frozen).
You can have a "Kæp i øret" A large stick in the ear = to be drunk. But you can also "have en lille fjer på" - have a little feather on/Wearing a little feather = being a little tipsy. If you "Har en ordentlig bjørn på" = Have a great bear on /wearing a big bear - you are VERY drunk, and probably won't remember anything the day after
Jeg går tilbage på min pind “i am going back on my stick” its when you go back to where you allways sit.
I like that one! :)
Then there is har for mange hatte på “to many hats on” that when you do a lot of different things, like someone how works in cleaning also being in the kitchen, they wound have 2 hats on so if you have to many you are all over the place indstead of just focusing on one thing.
And a 💩 one. Some en skoldet skid I eat glas vand “ like a scalded shit in a glass of water” it’s when you round around not knowing what to do😆 I have no idea have someone came op with this, or know have I 💩 would act in a glass of water if it was scalded😂
Another specifically Finnish saying is "Ei mennyt niin kuin Strömsössä" "It didn't work out like in Strömsö". Strömsö is a lifestyle program in Swedish created by Finlands Swedish TV channel. As all TV is subtitled here, it has become popular all over. The saying is in Finnish and means that your cookies, craft project or gardening didn't go so well. The only time I've heard it in Swedish is when the crafts presenter said in the show about one of her own creations😂.
Interesting video :) In Finland we also say that I have a hen to pluck with you "kana kynittävänä sinun kanssasi". Other chicken-related ones: 1) "Katkesi kuin kanan lento" = cut off like a chicken's flight which means that something didn't get very far and came to a screeching halt. 2) "Olla kukkona tunkiolla" = to be as a cock on a dungheap = to be pompous, think they're running the place. 3) "Juosta kuin päätön kana" = run around like a headless chicken We also say that someone was born with a golden spoon in their mouth. Other spoon-related 1) "heittää lusikka nurkkaan" = to throw a spoon in the corner = to die 2) "kun on lusikalla annettu ei voi kauhalla vaatia" = what was given with a spoon can't be demanded with a ladle (hard to translate) means that someone's dumb or inept.
Not really a saying, but my (Swede) absolute favorite Finnish word/concept is "Kalsarikännit": The feeling of wanting to stay at home, getting drunk in just your underwear, without any intention of going out at all. That's something I can really get behind. (Please correct me if my translation is a bit off.)
I was just looking up what are the hardest words / names of things in Danish to pronounce and I found these phrases amoungst many that were listed! : Rødovre & Hvidovre Rødgrød med fløde. When I googled each one and then clicked on the microphone, I could not believe how those words were pronounced! Wow, how would you ever guess how to say each of the four? Many words are spelled nothing like how they are said. 😊 I have a newly-found respect for you learning that language, I have to say. 😊
Then there are all the rules like have i sat things in past, present and future thence. Except for when those rules don’t apply😀 and all the letters you don’t say like in hvad, hvor, hvem you dont say the h. Everything as a rule except when it don’t😩 I had sucked at danish and I am danish🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
There is nothing danes love more than to make foreigners say "rødgrød med fløde" and then laughing at them for failing. The nice danes "laugh with them"
@@Krydolph It was apparently used to find nazi spies in the beginning, as they couldn't do it either. Everyone else is just suffering the consequences
The prawn sandwich is not as much about nepotism as about luck. When you get an offer for something you wouldn't technically be qualified for or happen to get a fun switch, that's typically when you would use it. Surely it can be used negatively about someone else, but the expression implies some kind of surprise.
My favorite Swedish idioms are "no cow on the ice" which means that there are no problems, and "now you have shitted in the blue cupboard" which means that you have f*cked up or gone too far.
"At hælde vand ud af ørerne" - I think you got this one a little bit wrong. It's not trash talking. It refers to someone who feels very sorry for him/herself and just can't stop talking about it.
Exactly. But the Copenhagen interpretation may be different. They do that quite often to old sayings...
Good ones you've picked out (y) Here's a few danish ones you can look into: "Der er ingen ko på isen" - "There's no cow on the ice" "Det er agurketid" - "It's cucumber time" "At samle til bunke" - "To collect for a pile" "Der, hvor kragerne vender" - "Where the crows are turning" "Det er ude på Larstyndskids mark" - "It's in the field of Lars with diarrhea" "Det ligger i langbortistan" - "It's in far-away-istan" "Glad i låget" - "Happy in the lid" "At være udenfor pædagogisk rækkevidde" - "The be out of reach of pedagogy" "At være helt ude at skide" / "At være på skideren" / "At være på spanden" ... you look these ones up yourselves ;)
We say fell between two chairs in Norway as well.
In Denmark we say “skyde gråspurve med kanoner” meaning “shooting house sparrows with canons” so it means that someone use stronger means than necessary.
Omg. Just noticed you have props. Omg. You GUYS are GENOIUS 😎😎😎😍😍😍😍😍♥️❤️💓💘
You guys are the nicest, and yes we have many crazy sayings :) In Denmark we say shooting Grey sparrows with cannons. (not flies) Making more fuzz of the problem than it really is.
In Denmark, I have grown up with the version of the phrase, "være født med en guldske i munden". And we do have the version "håret i postkassen". Regarding the chairs, I first met the phrase after seeing the Disney Channel Original movie, "Go Figure" where a Russian-American actress at that time says: ".... the one who sit between two chairs, may fall down easily" "Skrive noget *bag* øret".... "en kæp i øret" I think we use the phrase "at male fanden på væggen" "shapest tool in the box"? We have something similar in Danish too. "Ikke den skarpeste kniv i skuffen". Andre varianter kan være: "der er ikke blus på alle kogeplader" eller "lys i huset, men ingen hjemme"
....and Sweden.
I Danmark er der noget, der hedder "fejl 40", 40 cm fra computerskærmen .😅
*lol* we call it "felkod id10t" or SBS in Sweden.
Fejl 40 er den meddelelse der kom på de gamle dankort terminaler når kunden tastede forkert PIN kode. Var kortet spærret, så kunne vi inddrage det og sende til PBS. Det fik vi belønning for som jeg husker det. Vi er tilbage i omkring år 2001 - før alle de nye og moderne terminaler.
We have several versions of “Ikke den skarpeste kniv i skuffen” eg “ikke den hurtigste knallert på havnen”, “ikke det højeste strå på marken” Also an old saying (when record players still were normal in every household) - “er du vaccineret med en grammafonstift?” (Are you vaccinated with a recordplayer-needle/pin (not sure about the translation😬)) meaning that you talk a lot
Oh WOW, I love the record player needle one, that is so funny! :)
We do have the very same gramophone-needle -saying in Finland. I personally have been a serious suspect of such a vaccination😜
I've never heard the recordplayer-one though :)
In addition to "hyppe sine egne kartofler", one can also "mele sin egen kage". Flour one's own cake. (The only context where I have seen the verb at mele, to flour.) In addition to shooting house sparrows with canons, you can also "gøre en myg til en elefant". Make a mosquitto into an elefant. BTW, I hope you did not have to swallow too many camels moving to Denmark.
'En pind i øret', I have never heard, but if you have a 'kæp (pole) i øret', you're drunk.
The Danish pharase: "To have a stick in the ear", is mostly used, when pointing out that the person in mention is/was quite drunk.
A swedish saying that even I don't understand is that something can "sell like butter in sunshine ".
We have shooting fleste with a canyon too in Denmark, however it's sparrows here. At skyde gråspurve med kanoner
Thanks again for sharing
Thanks for watching :)
Pooped in the drawer ("really done it this time") is sometimes said Shit in the blue cupboard in Swe.
I don’t know the one about falling between two chairs, but you can sit between two chairs (sidde mellem 2 stole) which mean to be in a situation where you have to make a decision or make up your mind but haven’t yet done so. Maybe similar to being on the fence about something 😊
Faller mellan stolarna is definitely what they say, in Swedish.
@Robetrotting: A correction related to the saying “En gang til for prins Knud”. The reason for this saying is, that prince Knud and his wife were in the theatre one time, and afterwards they were asked by the theatre director about their opinion on a very controversial scene in the show. He told the director that they unfortunately couldn’t see the scene from where they sat. Therefore the director made the actors do that specific scene again only for the prince and his wife and a journalist. This resulted in a newspaper article, and the following year this story was used in a joking song about him being “a bit slow”…. the song was a big hit and the saying comes from that song! And that’s what the meaning is today Men skuffet måtte han høre Knuds kone, Caroline Mathilde, konstatere, at de slet ikke havde set scenen, da den primært foregik i den side af scenen, som man ikke kunne se fra kongelogen. Så Blicher-Hansen kommanderede ensemblet til at spille scenen igen, kun for prinseparret og BT-journalisten Arne Myggen Hansen. Og den artikel må Birgitte Reimer have læst, for året efter blev den altså grundlag for den berømte vise, som gik på episoden og på den udbredte opfattelse, at Knud var en lille smule langsom i opfattelsen. Den opfattelse hænger ved, for i dag tager vi den stadig ”en gang til for Prins Knud”,
“At gøre kål på …” usually means to finish something. So for example when you eat all the leftovers from the day before you could say: “så fik vi gjort kål på det”
In Sweden we specify the blue cabinet. (Att skita i det blå skåpet. To have a bowl movment in the blue locker/cabinet/cupboard.)
The Icelandic word is not "pig" but "þig" (þ is the onvoiced th sound, as in think) While the Finnsh shoot flies with a cannon, Norwegians have slioghtly bigger targets: sparrown (much more fun, but messier) (mentioned in other comments.) Not all hens are home: English - The lights are on but vthere's nobody home. GOAT first appeasredd in Spetember 1992 by Mohammad Ali. Gå i ged is probably quite a bit older, hence the obvious difference in meaning. The origin of "å gjøre kål på" is rather less violent than you think. It's acontraction of "to boiul cabbage soup on something". making sure all the leftovers are eaten you'll finally add them to a cabbage soup to finish it off. In Norwegian you can "boil soup on a nail" (koke suppe på en spiker) ့ but that means "beef something up", tell a tall tale, exaggerate beyond belief.
This seems to be a (semi) common mistake made by english speakers. While þ might look like p it's pronounced like th in the. Likewise, ð is pronounced like th in that.
At hælde vand ud af ørene = pooring water out of the ears. Is used to explain that a person complains excessively. Not necessarily "gossip about others". But more an excruciating lot of regrets. Which of course also can accommodate gossip in order to perhaps abdicate oneself from responsibility for one's "sufferings".
I don't know if they're nordic, but some I use often are "han/hun kan sælge sand i Sahara" - "he/she can sell sand in Sahara" - meaning to be really good at selling something, often not something in abundance and/or not in demand. "bo i en kuffert" - "live in a suitcase" - meaning you move a lot "klokke i det" - "bell in it" - meaning to mess up/screw up. "at se giraffen" - "to see the giraffe" - meaning to see someone famous or often spoken about, eg. when someone speak a lot about their new boyfriend/girlfriend and you haven't met them, you can say "when can we see the giraffe?" "at se noget i øjnene" - "to see something in the eyes" - meaning to acknowledge or realize something.
Eller han kan sælge en bog til en blind man.
Denmark has the knife thing too. "Ikke den skarpeste kniv i skuffen." I will never forget an american friends reaction, when I used the Idiom "Its like peing your pants" She looked at me real funny, so I explained "Its warm for a minute and then you are colder than before." Which just got a pause and a long drawn out "okay...." She definitely thought I was talking from personal experience, I think she was from a warm state. I had to explain then, but I am pretty sure I have heard it used in english before. Though it is an idiom, I think maybe any child having grown up in a cold place, would somewhat instinctly understand it in context? And I have seen the dilemma quite literally be used in movies , so maybe you get it from media too?
Can you make a video on superstitions, like not going under ladders, but some specific 🇩🇰 ones? And maybe one with the deferences in wolds like if you say taske in danish it means something very deferent in Sweden.
In the UK we have "falling between the chair and the stool" or "between two stools".
One more time for prins Knud can also be used when failing at something trivial.
I like you two guys. Please upload tomorrow or just every day
In Finland if you're "not the sharpest tool in the box" you'd say "Ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa = You don't have all the Moomin trolls in the valley" or "ei ole kaikki inkkarit kanootissa = ..not all the indians in the canoe"
Im impressed! Other sayings; "Ingen ko på isen".. dont worry! "Det står som spön i backen".. it rains cats and dogs. Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder.. there is no bad weather, only bad clothings, thats not that much a saying, its a fact if one live in Nordic countries!
"At kende sine lus på gangen" is my favorite idiom. It should translated as "knowing your head lice by the gait" and means that you know someone so well, that you can predict their actions. Like "how did you know it was me?" -"I know my head lice by the gait". In modern Danish, "gangen" more often means "the hallway", thus making the translation "knowing your head lice in the hallway/corridor". As a kid I genuinely thought this was the case. I understood the meaning, but had a picture in my mind of an office corridor full of head lice and someone being the boss of the company knowing each and every louse.
Like others Said - stick in the Ear is getting drunk…. Hay in the ears is not listening!!! I used that a lot on my kid when he was young ;)
The fastes Scooter on the pier = Sharpest knife in the drawer
To throw a goat's eye means to take a quick look at something. After you realise everything's good, you might announce that there is "no cow on the ice" (ingen ko på isen). Or if you realise that what you threw the goat's eye on was useless you could say "it's nothing to hang in the Christmas tree" (inget att hänga julgranen).
"not the sharpest knife in the drawer" He didn't invent the deep plate"
In Danish we have the frase 'shooting birds with cannons'. Means the same as the Finnish.
As a Dane I'm kinda sad that two of my favourite idioms/phrases aren't here. They practically mean the same thing. "Ude på Lars Tyndskids mark(er)" Out on Lars Thinshits field(s) and "Hvor kragerne vender" Where the crows turn. Both essentially mean that you're just far out in the country side, not too abnormally the places where any type of GPS becomes not entirely reliable.
This a also use a lot🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
And if you want to go even further than "where the crows turn" you venture out to the realm where the crows brings a packed lunch :) (Hvor kragerne har madpakke med)
Ah! I've just realised where we English get the word 'skidmarks' from. 😆Those unpleasant brown stains in your underpants if you fart and follow through. We don't use the word 'skid' to mean 'shit' in any other context, so I guess it goes back to the days you guys ruled half of England.
making cabbage of someone/something : ta kål på is something we say in Swedish too
I had to make fun of a friend because we where both sounding super stupid, and i said "she's not the sharpest spoon in the cabinet" she understood it immediately and laughed so much and it took my partner a little to understand i had said all of it on purpose haha! I also butchered the phrase "du gør dem en bjørnetjæneste" and i said "du gør dem en bjørneklo", and i just had to embrace it and go with it haha! I have had a lot of "word salad" where i cannot find the correct words for a sentence so i kinda had to just accept the weird phrases i made and now they are just something we use at home!
And now you have some great inside-jokes too :)
en fugl i hånden - er bedre end... en hånd i fuglen =P
Sharpest spoon? Must be a wordplay: skarpeste ske i skuffen, for skeer er normalt ikke særligt skarpe.
@@hassegreiner9675 Det er pointen hehe, ske'er er normalt ikke super skarpe, og de ligger som regl heller ikke i skabet men i skuffen ;) Så når jeg bruger det så er det lidt en joke på mig selv også for ikke at bruge det korrekte ordsprog haha! "Hun er ikke den skarpeste ske i skabet" ;) hahah!
@@TainDK Et tag i skridtet er bedre end ti skridt på taget.
Is "between the cracks" and "between two chairs" really the same? "Between two chairs" also indicate that Chair A has responsibility X and Chair B has responsibility Y and now there is some new responsibility that could be done by both, which in reality means that it will be done by neither (fall between the chairs), unless we talk about it.
for something to fall between the cracks means it was overlooked - so yeah.
In German you also write something behind your ear, but this is rather a warning than just a note to myself. Write this behind your ears before you come here again!
7.50- you'r digging up potatoes .. no- at hyppe sine kartofler means : you have to keep the weed down around the potatoes. so you make a little 8 cm wall of dirt around to cover the potatoes from sunlight- and thereby also remowing the weed.. thats the meaning of- hyppe but in this expression it means that you are keeping most focus of your one benefits..
It might be that I'm from Southern Jutland and speak the dialect, that the Idioms that were "Danish", that most of them I've actually not heard before/ever used, but then we have some other ones
5:34 - the danish version is shooting sparrows with cannons.
I've never used the phrase "fall between 2 chairs" ... Don't think I've ever heard it. (in Danish) However... there is the term to "sit between 2 chairs" ... which mean that you are trying to take the middle ground where it probably doesn't make sense.
In nNorwegian it is "Skyte spurv med kanon" As in shooting sparrows with a cannon.