Every language has its own sayings. Often they make perfect sense in their own language – they may even sound beautiful. But if translated they make absolutely no sense.
The English saying “to get caught red handed”, means to get caught when you are doing something wrong. It does not make sense unless you know that in old times you would get punished for killing an animal that was not theirs.
If they had the blood on their hands, they were caught red handed.
The Finnish comedian, Ismo, makes a living dissecting the English language and finding words and sayings that seem strange to outsiders, but they of course make perfect sense to native English speakers.
We have found a long line of exciting Danish sayings that makes loads of sense to Danes, but absolutely no sense to anyone else.
1. To Go Cucumber
To go cucumber means to go bananas. Actually, they seem weird in both languages – just dissect this.
We have just explained what going cucumber means by saying it means going bananas. Words are weird.
2. Should We Fart About The Price?
In Denmark you can fart about the price. It is not something you can do at game sites such as Comeon casino, but you could do it at a fair. It means to haggle.
Incidentally the English word fart means speed in Danish. Confused? Well, don’t go cucumber.
3. The Fields Of Lars’ Diarrhea
If you suddenly find yourself in the fields of Lars’ diarrhea, it means you are in the middle of nowhere.
Saying Lars’ diarrhea is like saying hillbilly – it means that Lars lives in the middle of nowhere and he is a loser, which is why his nickname is Lars’ diarrhea.
I don’t know about you, but literally speaking I hope I never find myself in the fields of Lars’ diarrhea.
4. Don’t Come Here And Play King Carrot
King Carrot is apparently a big shot. Or at least he thinks he is.
The saying means that you should not come here thinking you are better than me.
5. No Cow On The Ice
This saying actually makes perfect sense. A cow on the ice spells trouble while no cow on the ice is no problem at all.
So if there is no cow on the ice we don’t have a problem.
6. To Grab A Grandad
This is in no way a kidnapping situation. It just means that you are going to nap – just like granddad always does.
7. Now That Goat Is Shaved
When the goat has been shaved the job is done. For some reason saying now that the goat is shaved is equivalent to saying “we’re done”.
8. The Sausage Of Death
We really hope that reading this list hasn’t been the sausage of death. The saying means that something is extremely boring. Why it's the sausage of death and not the ham of death no one will ever know.
9. The Raisin At The End Of The Sausage
The last saying is the raisin at the end of the sausage. You probably never had a raisin in a sausage – you probably won’t find a Dane that has. But if you get to the last one, you have reached the raisin.
Congratulations – you have reached the raisin at the end of the sausage.
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