{"id":3392,"date":"2011-04-05T17:49:14","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T17:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=3392"},"modified":"2011-04-05T17:49:14","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T17:49:14","slug":"todays-expression-att-bara-hundhuvudet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/todays-expression-att-bara-hundhuvudet\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s expression: Att b\u00e4ra hundhuvudet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it works absolutely fine to directly translate Swedish expressions and idioms into English. But other times… well, let’s just say\u00a0it doesn’t work at all. Att b\u00e4ra hundhuvet – to carry the dog’s head <\/strong>– is one who didn’t work, I tried it the other day and got a few raised eyebrows in response…<\/p>\n

Anyway. Swedes use the expression “Att b\u00e4ra hundhuvudet”<\/strong> when they talk about the person who is given the blame for something, the scapegoat. In other words, the scapegoat is carrying around a dog’s head (lot’s of animals here) and the reason for this weird expression dates back to medieval Germany – when dogs were nothing but useless and dirty creatures. Apparently, noblemen who had committed a crime were forced to walk a certain distance while carrying a big dog in their arms – just\u00a0to show the world that they basically were as useless as a dog. After a while, the punishment was reduced so that the nobleman “only”\u00a0had to\u00a0carry\u00a0the dog’s head on a rope around the neck (not entirely sure that would be any better…) before he was free to go. The noblemen literally carried the dog’s head and this is how we use it in Swedish today – but please don’t try it in English!<\/p>\n

Lena fick b\u00e4ra hundhuvudet efter den d\u00e5liga presentationen<\/strong> (Lena had to carry the dog’s head after the bad presentation)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you have any similar expressions in your language?<\/p>\n

Photo: Elliot Erwitt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Sometimes it works absolutely fine to directly translate Swedish expressions and idioms into English. But other times… well, let’s just say\u00a0it doesn’t work at all. Att b\u00e4ra hundhuvet – to carry the dog’s head – is one who didn’t work, I tried it the other day and got a few raised eyebrows in response… Anyway…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,3079],"tags":[34541,66,82,12985,8699],"class_list":["post-3392","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-swedish-language","tag-att-bara-hundhuvudet","tag-expressions","tag-idioms","tag-swedish-idioms","tag-swedish-odd-expressions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t