There is a dog buried here somewhere Posted by jennie on May 26, 2011 in Swedish Language, Vocabulary
As said many times before; direct translations of idioms can cause major confusion and most definitely a few laughs. Do you remember the dog’s head? Well, I tried another dog the other day. The buried dog, this time. Det ligger en hund begraven här = There is a dog buried here – is used when something isn’t quite right, when you have a sneaky suspicion that someone is trying to hide something. That’s when we use the buried dog. The english equivalent would be “I smell rat” or “Something smells fishy”. Another Swedish idiom used in the same way is Ana ugglor i mossen – Suspect owls in the bog.
“Jag tror inte att han är mördaren. Det ligger en hund begraven här.”
“Jag tror inte att hon var otrogen. Jag anar ugglor i mossen.”
Do you have any animals buried or smelling in your language?
Some other idioms and their equivalent in English:
Det där var nära ögat = That’s a close shave
(Direct translation: That was close to the eye)
Det var en annan femma = That’s another cup of tea
(Direct translation: That’s another fiver)
Du ser ut som om du sålt smöret och tappat pengarna = You look like a dying duck in a thunderstorm
(Direct translation: You look like you have sold the butter and dropped the money)
Friskt vågat hälften vunnet = Nothing ventured nothing gained
(Direct translation: Dare brave win half)
Göra en höna av en fjäder = Make a mountain out of a molehill
(Direct translation: To make a hen out of one feather)
Ha ett finger med i spelet = Have a finger in the pie
(Direct translation: To have a finger in the game)
Hellre fria än fälla = Give somebody the benefit of a doubt
(Rather acquit than convict)
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Comments:
Marta:
In Spanish, we say that there’s a cat shut (here). At least, it’s alive, while in the Swedish idiom, the dog is not 🙂
Julia:
It’s pretty cool. Some of this Idioms are similar or nearly similar in German Language (Same meaning): ha ett Finger med i spielet: jemand hat seine Finger im Spiel),
Det där var nära ögat: das ging beinahe ins Auge,
Det logget en Hund begraben här: da liegt der Hund begraben!
Teddy Zittell:
Lovely to read these;
In Yiddish, and in Hebrew, the expression translating as “Here’s where the dog lies buried” has a different nuance than in Swedish; it means “that’s the real issue”, or “that’s the real answer” or that’s the heart of the matter”.
With thanks….