{"id":8804,"date":"2020-10-29T23:22:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T23:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=8804"},"modified":"2020-10-29T23:22:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T23:22:29","slug":"swedish-idioms-round-two-go-to-hekla-and-fox-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/swedish-idioms-round-two-go-to-hekla-and-fox-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Idioms Round Two, Go to Hekla and Fox Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hekla Mountain, Iceland. Photo: hekla.com<\/p><\/div>\n


\nLast week, I wrote about some common idioms that you\u2019re bound to hear in every day Swedish. In doing research for that post, I discovered some rather obscure ones too. I’ll share some of those in this post as well as share the origin stories behind a couple of classic idioms. Nu k\u00f6r vi!<\/em> Let’s go!<\/span><\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m not svensk<\/em> myself, I didn\u2019t grow up learning the nuances of these phrases. So if you\u2019d like to add an anecdote about an idiom, I welcome you to do so in the comments below. You can even correct me…most of the time I know what I\u2019m talking about, but I have been ute och cyklar<\/em> (had my head in the clouds) a time or two! ?<\/span><\/p>\n

For the list of common idioms on my favorite list, see last week\u2019s post<\/a>. Again, the reference book I\u2019m using is <\/span>Svenska uttryck och deras ursprung<\/span><\/i> by Kerstin Johanson. The book is super detailed, but she adds a few sentences of explanation for each phrase in the book.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the list below, I have provided the Swedish, followed by the literal translation, followed by the explanation or equivalent saying in English.<\/p>\n

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  1. Ropa inte hej f\u00f6rr\u00e4n du \u00e4r \u00f6ver b\u00e4cken<\/em><\/strong> \u2192 Don’t yell hello until you’re over the stream \u2192\u00a0 <\/span>Don\u2019t speak too soon\n

    <\/span><\/li>\n

  2. Sova r\u00e4v<\/strong><\/em> \u2192 Fox sleep\u00a0 \u2192<\/strong> pretend sleep ??
    \n<\/span>Listig som en r\u00e4v<\/em>, sly as a fox is, where this saying comes from. Pretending you\u2019re asleep but really wide awake is definitely listig<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  3. Dra dit pepparn v\u00e4xer<\/em><\/strong> \u2192<\/strong> Go to where the pepper grows \u2192<\/strong> To wish someone away far away\u201d<\/span>
    \n<\/span>In Swedish, you\u2019ll hear Dra \u00e5t helvete<\/em> \/ Go to Hell. But this one is a more creative take\u00a0 \u201cGo to where pepper grows,\u201d in this case peppercorns, is far, far away from Sweden.
    \n<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/li>\n

  4. Now I know this next one is pretty common. But what I did not know is how it originated. <\/span>Ana ugglor i mossen<\/i><\/strong> is a phrase that means \u201csomething isn\u2019t quite right.\u201d It comes from the Danish <\/span>det er ulve i mosen<\/span><\/i> literally \u201cthere are wolves in the moss.\u201d <\/span>Here\u2019s where, insert Swedish joke, the Swedes heard it wrong. You see, the Danish <\/span>ulve<\/span><\/i> sounds a lot like the Danish word for <\/span>ugler <\/span><\/i>(owls), which is <\/span>the same in Swedish – ugglor.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>
    \n<\/span>So you\u2019ll find no wolves in Swedish moss, only owls.??<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/li>\n

  5. Dra \u00e5t H\u00e4cklefj\u00e4ll!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em> \u00a0\u2192 Go to the Mountain Hekla \u2192 Go to hell! ?\n

    Dra \u00e5t helvete<\/em> is what you’ll say nowadays, but this phrase is also used when you want to send someone to Hell. Hekla is a mountain-volcano in Iceland. No one wanted to summit Hekla until the late 1700’s because it was thought to be a meeting place for witches, creepy creatures, and the entrance to hell<\/a>.
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n

  6. Det var som katten sa<\/em><\/strong> \u2192 It’s as the cat spoke \u2192 Wow, incredible!\n

    <\/span>This one has a particular soft spot with me. When I was living in Sm\u00e5land, my friends used this phrase. The first couple of times, I thought I heard wrong, but then I realized it was some type of idiom. When I asked what it meant and why it was used, folks chuckled and kind of shrugged, because idioms are hard to explain! But I came to learn that because cats don\u2019t speak, you used this phrase to express surprise over something unbelievable.<\/li>\n

  7. \u00a0Livet p\u00e5 en pinne<\/strong> <\/em>\u2192 Life on a stick \u2192\u00a0 Living the good life\n

    According to SAOB, this saying comes from the 1800’s to describe living an exciting life. Johansen cites its usage in the 1920\u2019s ditty made popular by Ernst Rolf:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Jag \u00e4r ute n\u00e4r gumman min \u00e4r inne
    \n<\/span>jag \u00e4r inne n\u00e4r gumman min \u00e4r ute<\/em>
    \nJa, det \u00e4r det som \u00e4r livet p\u00e5 en pinne<\/em>
    \noch v\u00e5r k\u00e4rlek ja den tar aldrig slut.<\/p>\n

    <\/em>Listen to the song and see if you can roll your r<\/em>‘s as well as Ernst!<\/p>\n