One thing I love about the Swedish language is picking up all the idioms and expressions. Things that don't make sense when you translate them but have cultural meaning in their context. Things like 'clear as sausage juice' and 'she's on the thump'(hon är på smällen) are fabulous. But my favourite has to be the one for when somebody apologises after they have made a fool of themselves in public. 'To do a poodle'. Makes sense, right?
Sweden is a nation of dog-lovers. You see lots of dogs everywhere. But not many poodles. But in this year of national elections and royal weddings I guess we're going to see quite a few poodles being done, at least.
I always took "på smällen" to be more like "banged up", "about to pop" something like that! (From Grey N)
ReplyDeleteknocked up... (Fromd Brown D)
ReplyDeleteBanged up and Knocked up are great translations! Still don't make sense though do they?
ReplyDeleteNo idioms in any language make sense if you translate them literally.
ReplyDelete"clear as sausage juice" is a lazy translation of "klar som korvspad". It means that something is not clear, it is cloudy, like the *broth* that remains when sausages are cooked. If you say "Clear as sausage broth", that makes sense, doesn't it?
"på smällen" makes as much sense as "knocked up", which is an Americanism that doesn't mean the same as the UK "knocked up" i.e.to wake some one in the morning by knocking.
ReplyDelete