Episode 8: Danes Say WHAT?! Funny Danish Idioms That Make No Sense

In this episode of The Scandi Shift, Meg and Selena take a lighter turn and dive into one of the most surprising (and confusing) parts of learning a new language: idioms.

Because once you start translating things literally, nothing makes sense.

From “shooting the parrot” to “the sausage of death” to “playing king carrot,” Danish expressions quickly become a crash course in both language and culture — and a reminder that understanding a country goes far beyond vocabulary.

We talk about:

•  What idioms are and why they rarely translate 
•  The Danish expressions that completely confused us 
•  Trying (and struggling) to pronounce Danish out loud 
•  How idioms reveal cultural nuance you don’t learn in textbooks 
•  The moments where you realize you understand the words… but not the meaning 

This episode is part language lesson, part cultural decoding, and part chaos — and a perfect reminder that sometimes the best way to understand a place is to laugh at how little sense it makes at first.

Danish language, funny Danish idioms, learning Danish, expat life Denmark, living in Copenhagen, Danish culture explained, language and culture Denmark.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome back to the Scandy Shift, the podcast where two expat moms talk honestly about surviving, thriving, and building a happy life in Denmark. I'm Selena and I'm Meg. Today we have a fun episode. I think we're super jazzed about it. So coming off our last episode about belonging in Denmark, we thought it would be fun to look at one of the first steps in really understanding culture and language. And that is idioms. And before we go on, as always, if we get the idea from somewhere, I would just like to now give a shout out to my wonderful husband, as this was actually his suggestion. So thank you very much for that. Absolutely. I was so excited that he came up with this. When I got the email and I opened mine, I was like, oh, this is gonna be fun. And he actually went the extra step of blind giving it to us. So Selena has no idea what I have. I have no idea what she has. He has sent them to us separately. We have not shared with each other. So this is gonna be a challenge. I think so. And I think we should we should actually just describe what an idiom is. Yes, yeah. I know it's not something that you use in like regular language, right? So like, oh yes, of course, that is a lovely idiom. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We just do it. It's a category, but you don't really talk about the category. No. So an idiom is basically a phrase where the literal meaning isn't what it actually means. So there are expressions that we all use, you know, when we're growing up and you're hearing, and you kind of say them, but you don't really think about it until you move to another country and you say something and people are like, What? When you translate it word for word, even in the other language or in your own language, it makes no sense.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

So, example, it's raining cats and dogs. Now we all as English speakers take it for granted. We're like, oh yeah, of course it means it's pouring down rain. But if you're not familiar with the language and someone says it's raining cats and dogs, we're not saying literal pets are coming down from the sky. That is not what's happening. But this is what idioms are in languages, right? Some type of visualization that really is weird in many aspects unless you grow up with it. And another funny one in English is spill the beans, which has absolutely nothing to do with beans, it just means revealing a secret. Yes. Spill the tea.

unknown 2:40

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

I think you're right. The new idiom on that is oh, you ready to serve some tea? We're modernizing. Uh-huh. I didn't even think about that. Good one. Oh, the ball is in your court. Yeah. That's another good one. I like that one. We do have tons of these when you think about it, and idioms really are one of those funny little windows into culture that only pick up once you're living somewhere and hearing how people actually talk. And Danish has a ton of them. We're only going to scratch the surface. So if this is good, we can always do it again. But Danish has a ton of these.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

So to make this interesting, as we said, we each have five, and we're going to say them in Danish. Challenge our Danish. Have the other person. So sorry, the other person being you. There's no one else in the room with us today. It's just us, as always. But you know, I will say one, Meg will have to translate it. I have been slightly kind with mine, and I have also come up with a way to say it. So using the expression. I'm not sure if it actually helps with what I've got. When you read it, it sounds crazy. Um, but then Meg will need to guess what it means, and vice versa. So are you ready, Meg? I think I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. Okay. So first one. And I just have to say, I have not practiced saying this in Danish. So I think it might be the first time that I've actually said something in Danish on this podcast. Yes, exactly. Oh, and I will mention that the Danish I spoke in the podcast last episode, we had really weird sound things. So when I said it, I don't sound like that when I speak Danish, like a weird robot being like rah, rah, rah, rah. So hopefully this will not come through. Yeah, we did have we did have some uh some challenges with the software and stuff, but yeah. Hopefully, I think we think that's fixed. Oh, and we've moved location to your place. Yes, now we're not sat in my living room. Yes, this will be a first time new location. We're starting off with idioms. This is gonna be good. We sat on a day bed, picture of people, yeah, just pillows, galore around us. It's sunny outside, it's all good. Okay, are we even in Denmark? Sunny outside. No, yeah. Okay, back to the idioms. So, first one. God, I really I mean, this is embarrassing for me as well. Okay, so the first one is Oskil Papagoyan. Oskil Papagoyan. Yeah. I have no idea. Oh my god. You don't know what Papagoya? No, I don't know what papagoya is. Okay. Do you want me to say it in English? Yeah. To shoot the parrot. Oh I just learned a new word. Papagoya's. Yeah, the only reason I know Papagoya is because um what's it called? Skillbane Lipless. We my kids have always called it the Papagoya Lipless because it's got the parrot slide on it. Oh, that's a side. The thing they climb up. So that's the only reason why I know it. See, this is how we learn vocabulary, by the way, guys. It's yeah, it really is. So to shoot the parrot. Uh do you want me to give you the sentence? No, it's not. Kind of funny in the sentence. Uh okay, yeah. Go for it. Yeah. I'll do the sentence in English now. Okay. Okay. So I just bought a new sofa, a TV, and a gaming console all in one day. I really shot the parrot. Oh. To uh uh to uh like go over your budget to like spend too much money. Yeah, exactly. To splurge, to spend a lot of money at once. Oh my gosh. Okay, that is a good one. Okay, all right. Um okay, here's mine. Ready? Yep, okay. Uh Dordan's pausa.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Try again.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Dort and sposa. Posa is like bag, right? No. Posa. Posa. I literally just made a motion for her so she can figure it out. Pause. I have absolutely no idea what that's. Ready? Can you say it in English? Yeah. The sausage of death. Oh, poser. Posa. Oh, poser. I was like, that poser is actually in my defense. It is bag. I think it is. So there are a few. Uh can I read it? Is it in English? Yeah. So yeah. Dunse pulsa. Yeah, pose. So there's pulza, which is dead. Is it the dead sausage? The sausage of death or dead sausage. Yeah. I if I'd have read it, I would have got it, I think. Yeah. Okay, but what the Okay, wait. I'll try. I don't have a sentence prepared. Sausage of death? I don't know. So let me let me, I don't have a set a sentence prepared and definitely not in Danish. So let me see if I can figure something out. Um okay. Oh man. That meeting, he just went on and on. It was really just a sausage of death. I I have no idea. Is it like boring? Yes. Alright. Something extremely boring or painfully dull. Duns, poser. Duns, pose. Oh my god, I'm gonna remember that one. Oh my gosh. That's that's a really good one. And you should probably pronounce it correctly and say pos instead of what I said. Pose. Actually, I'm I'm still happy that I I did technically say the right thing based on how he said it. Exactly, exactly. I would say that uh I am not the bastion of David. Pronunciation. I am still learning. I'm only in 3-4. I've only been here 13 months. So this has step by step. This has like two layers of difficulty for me. It's like I've never heard the expression, I've never heard it said in the way that Meg says it. All right. Are you ready for the next one? Okay. I I mean, I'm just gonna guess right. Okay. Herons. Helen's. Okay. Okay. Muk, I would be like, that's like dark. Yeah. But no mack. Okay. Uh I'm gonna say like the heron's like feathers or the hair like the bird, like the heron as in like a bird's like coat. I don't know. That is honestly where my mind went when I first saw this. And it has absolutely nothing to do with heron. That's just like how we what we think of, right? In English, but it's it's spelt differently. Okay. Um probably the name is I'll give you the English now. Yes, okay If you're gonna be like, what? On the Lord's Field. On the Lord's Field? Yeah, that's literally the translation. I oh, I I do okay. I should have known that word. I there was a show that was uh Heron's Mark by Ket Hans Hands Guide. So on the Lord's Field. Uh now you should guess it then. Yeah, I'm just gonna guess it like um like if like oh something like to be fair. No, oh and and I wish you everybody I wish we were on video actually for this one because your confidence level was so high just before you said it. You were like, okay, I'm just gonna guess. No, nothing to do with being fair. Do you want me to give you the sentence? Yes, yeah. I think the sentences are funny. I tried fixing my own plumbing and I just ended up flooding the kitchen. I was really on the Lord's field. Out of my depth? Like kind of out of your depth, like over your head. Yeah, yeah. I yeah, yeah, exactly. And the the meaning is it's being completely lost or clueless, like wandering in someone else's field and not knowing what to do. So yeah, pretty much. Yeah, okay. Why does it have to be the Lord?

unknown 10:47

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Okay, all right, all right, I've got one. Ready? Okay, okay. I know I need to practice. We're doing okay. Yeah, we're not terrible. To play Kong say the last part again. Oh, carrot. Yeah. To play the carrot. To play carrots. To play uh Kong? Kong. Oh, King's carrot. Yeah, play the king carrot. Yeah, to play king carrot, nuts. Oh my god. I will also say that actually though, well done on the pronunciation, because that one I did. I will I was about to say that we have not actually heard each other speak Danish very often, so we're not used to each other's accents whatsoever. So there's also a little bit of that. To play the king's carrot. Uh-huh. Yeah. To play king carrot. King carrot. Yeah. What is that envision for you? Um play the king carrot. Oh, yeah, this is a tricky one. Is it like the big dog? Is it? Is it? Yes, yes, exactly. But I don't know why, but it's the king. If it was just carrots, I'd be like, no idea. You know, I feel like when I envisioned this, I was like, you could be like sassy kids. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, look at me. Uh-uh. So apparently this means acting like you're the boss or acting important when you don't actually have the authority to do so. Oh. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, I like that one. Oh god. Oh, yeah. This is this is hard. I think this one's really this might be the hardest one. So get ready. All right. So number three. Three from me. Sticker up for bolla milk. Sticker up for bolla milk?

unknown 12:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Okay. Well, so bolla milk would literally be like a like a bun or a dumpling. Yeah. Milk is milk. Yeah. Sticker up. Is that to get up? To stand up? No. Oh, stick it up. It's so close. Stick it up. No, no. So close. Stiga. It's so close to the English as a clue. Do you want me to give you, I can give you the sentence. Yeah. I told my boss I covered for my co-worker shift, even though I was tired. I was really sticking up for the bun milk. Uh to stick. Okay, stick up. Okay. Stigger up. Oh, that's a new word for me too. To stick up the bun milk. Okay. It's a really weird one. But this is like so that it means to stick your neck out for someone, even for something small or silly. Basically risking a little for a small reward. Like standing up for someone just for a cup of milk. Oh. You know, something small. What a weird one. That's also that one I think is hard to apply. It's very specific. It is incredibly specific. I would have no idea how to put even in the English translation. If you were just gonna throw some things out there, I would literally be like, yeah, I don't I don't know how I would use that in English. Okay, okay, all right. This is going well so far. Um, I mean, you're doing much better than I am, but yes. I feel like your husband gave us some tricky ones. He did. He definitely had a big smile on his face when he sent these emails. He's like, ha ha ha ha. Okay. He did say that he'd given you like five really good ones. And then he maybe said the best ones, and I was like, uh, what about me? Like, wait, I married you, I bore your children, I should have the best ones. I clean your underwear, I mean. Okay. All right. All right. Uh it's hard to speak English and then like move your tongue into Danish. I know. All right.

unknown 14:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Has said every English speaking person trying to learn Danish. Not an easy language, my people. Not in English, right? Okay. At play the Ispanatin. Oh my god. Atle. Atlay that play that. It actually is similar to yours. It's similar. The word it means something it sounds almost the same once you know that verb. So at lei the is the verb, right? Two, but it didn't. Spinach? Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah. To cut the spinach or to chop the spinach. Cleva. Play play the. Not cleva. Play the. Oh, oh, I don't know. Say it in English. Okay. To step in or tread in the spinach. Oh. Right. So tread, play the. Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. Play the. Yeah. Right. Um. To step in spinach. Oh, I need, I need context. This is hard. Actually, this is a really good one. All right. I just saw it on uh social media the other day when they were talking about the upcoming elections. And they basically went through all the different uh politicians, and each one of them have really horrible, embarrassing backgrounds. And then it's like, how do we vote for the person who stepped in the least spinach? Ooh. Is it like problems? Like put your foot in it. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Yay. Means to making a mistake socially or saying something embarrassing. Oh, you really you really stepped in the spinach on that one. Really good. Oh, you're two, you're two. You've got two strong ones. Okay. Okay. Are you ready? Oh God. I'm not doing so well, but okay, yes. This really shows me the. Let me just get my warm my throat up for this. Okay. Ick then hurtis. Can you say that again?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Ick then hurtis.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Okay, Ich then hurt it. Yeah. Okay, not heard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

No. Hurtis.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Oh, I don't know that one. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Do you not know the word herdy?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Oh, hur ik. Hurdy? Oh, fast. Not fast. Yeah. So ich then hurtis. Okay, not the fastest. Yeah, exactly. Knallet. Canellet. I don't know. I've I've never heard this word. Before. Okay. On the okay, so Houn, Hound. Hound. Hound. Hound. Okay. So not Yeah, not the fastest something on the hound is a sea, ocean. Oh. Yes. Like something at the sea. Okay. Not the fastest something on the city. It's not the sea. It's not the sea. That is not the fastest moped. Moped. Yeah, that's canaled. At the harbor. Oh, at the harbor. The hound? Oh, hound, that hard harbor. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Houn. Yeah. So I would like to also tell people that how hea in Danish can mean heva, which means garden. Yeah. Spelled similar to hea, which means ocean. That's also heva, which means to have. But I isn't isn't hob hound. Houn. Yeah. Yeah. So I just I didn't hear your your hound. Yeah, your V, your V in there. Okay. So I think that's the point, isn't it? Yeah. Like that's again, welcome to every problem that all English speakers face when learning this language. Wait, there's a T in that? There's a G. Oh, I didn't hear that V. Got it. Okay. Okay, so not this is, I think you can guess this. Not the fastest moped at the harbor. Why the hell is a moped, which is a wheeled vehicle that you're on the street, in a harbor? So these are all good questions. But you know, um I would say just like you're not the fastest ship, or you're not as fast as everyone else, or you're not the oh, you're not the smartest. That's it. You're not the smartest. So it we have you're not the sharpest tool in the shed. Exactly, which makes sense because tools go in sheds. Mopeds slow on the uptake. Slow on the uptake. He took an hour to figure out how to send an email. Definitely not the fastest moped at the harbor. I would also just like to ask the Danes, why the hell do you have mopeds in the harbor? Shouldn't you have motorboats, sailboats, skippers, dinghies, anything. But why the hell? Yeah, the fastest boat would have made sense. Yes, mate, exactly. All right. Okay, this one's good. You're gonna like it. Right? All right. Uh got it. That's like the tongue, the mouth, getting ready. All right. New bala for soupen. New bala for soup pen. New like buns for the soup. Yeah, yeah. New buns on the soup. New buns on the soup. Yeah. Uh does that mean? Like it's great, it's all good, and you know, oh yay, I can understand. I get it, but I don't really get it. This is why this language is so hard. Maybe everyone's talking in idioms all the time to me. Talking in idioms and also have a potato in their mouth. That is also an idiom. Yeah, oh, yeah, you're right. Potato in the mouth, right? And Danish. Yes. Um, can I can you put it in a sentence? Okay. Uh well, now that we got that funding, we've got new buns on the soup. Oh, I should sorry. We were originally going to go bankrupt, but now that we have that funding, we've got new buns on the soup. Oh, uh, new buns on the soup, like spending what you don't have? Like opposite. Something bad happened and now something new has happened. So I don't know. I don't know. It's a tricky one. Yeah, that was a hard one's a hard one to put in the sentence too. Basically, that's a whole new ball game, or something has changed in the situation. Oh, a game changer. Yeah, game changer, exactly. Oh no, I did not get that from that. That's uh that's a less obvious one. Yeah. My sentence was not very good either, to be honest. Like coming up with that on the fly was a bit hard. I was like, I love how I'm like, okay, so let's think about startups. Okay, you're about to run out of funding, and now you've got new funding, so there you go. You can keep going. You have another year of runway. Oh my god. Okay, last one from me, and I have to say this is my favorite of all five that I have had. Okay. It could be my favorite overall as well, but you've had a couple of good ones. Okay. So finally, Lo Comal Plena. Lo? Lo Comal. Lo com can I see that? Uh oh yeah. It's very hard for me because it gives you like the absolute local. Yeah. Okay, well would be like Tom. But okay. Well I'm glad we have this on explicit.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Oh, I didn't mean that.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Oh my god. Um no, I I okay, I actually don't know. I'm not even gonna guess anymore. I I think this is just it's easy to remember and it's just wonderful. I'm gonna I'm definitely gonna try and like incorporate this into my daily life. The toilet is burning. Oh that's what it means. Okay, okay, okay. Well I'm gonna take this like literally, like shit's on fire. We are having a real issue here. Yes, it means urgent trouble. When the toilet's on fire, you know it's time to act as and I would just say I just I just think this is so like the client emailed complaining the server crashed and my report is due today. The toilet is really burning. Okay, all right, all right. This one now I will say the first word is actually hard for me to say in general in Venus. I don't know what the I'm so bad at the letters but the A with a little hat on it. Oh yeah, that one's always a little hard for me to say. So I'm moving my heart my mouth around so that I can e postcasson. Yeah, is in hair. Uh-huh. E postcasson. Hair in the box or yeah, yeah, post. On no, post you had box, right? Post post. Oh, hair in the post box. Yes, hair in the mailbox. Exactly. What? Yeah. Yeah, okay, again. So I can understand the Danish. I do not understand this idiom. Look at you, you have quite the vocabulary, the varied vocabulary. Hair in the post. Hair in the post box. Come on, Selena. What is this? Can you say it in a sentence? Yeah, okay. I'm gonna have to come up with a sentence here. Uh it was Thursday and Johnny had gone into the slick box when his mother caught him and therefore was not supposed to uh yeah. So she saw him trying to get slick on a Friday instead of Friday slick. Oh sorry, it's I was expecting full English. Yeah, so yeah, Johnny was his mom walked in and Johnny had his hand in the candy. Yeah, in the candy. Uh so she really caught him with his hair in the mailbox. So to get in trouble, basically. Caught red-handed. Yeah, caught red-handed. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a good one. By the way. A lot I feel like a lot of idioms come sometime by visualization. But in reality, you're like, some of these I'm like, well, how the hell? Like a hair in the mailbox? Like someone shit. Like what? I I I I actually wish we didn't do this, but I actually wish we would have looked at the history of these because it's really fun to know the origin. Yeah. Maybe and maybe we can circle back to this because we're gonna be talking more about language and especially as part of the belonging series. Because we know it's a big a big one, but we thought this would be like a really funny warm-up. And I really hope that like I have learned I've learned a lot today. I've learned that I have really bad uh pronunciation where Selena can actually understand me. Yeah, I think if it said slow enough, yeah, I can understand. Yeah, you have a really good vocabulary. You're picking up words that I would have been like, I have no idea. I have a pronunciation and a vocabulary, and then I just have this terrible memory, so I can never remember how to actually put these words in a sentence. So when it comes to conversation, I run very short. And I'm working on it. Oh my god. So today we've learned Danish idioms involve hair, a lot of baller, parrots, burning toilets. Burning toilets. Oh my gosh. A lot of hair. A lot of sausage. Carro, sausage, and spinach. I'll never think of pulser in the same way again. That's a good one, actually. It is a good one. But I mean, honestly, it feels like a pretty good summary of uh what we experience sometimes as Danish culture. Oh my gosh, yes. So NAMs are one of those things that really show how strange language actually is when you stop and really think about it, right? Like you think about this, you're like, wait, what? Yeah, exactly. And how much culture is hidden inside of those expressions. Like if you're learning Danish and a Dane comes out with this sort of expression, I mean you might if you probably if you're in that conversation, you're probably good enough to understand what they just said. Yes. As into translating. But it's like another one of those moments where you're like, the death sausage. Yeah. Um okay. It's definitely gonna be sort of a a nod, not and a smile. Agree. Agree to whatever. So yeah, if you hear that and you're completely lost, it's probably an idiom. Oh, absolutely. Uh well, if you're me, it could also be many other things. But yeah, if you're actually conversational, it's probably an idiom. Um, and if you have a favorite Danish idiom that we didn't mention, of course, there are, I'm sure, many, many more. You know, we didn't even we didn't even cover my favorite one, which I'm not gonna say because we might use it in a different one if we do this again. Yeah, let's let's do oh yeah, I know which one that is. I like that one. Yeah, yeah. So we we're definitely gonna do this again. I think this was a really fun one.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

It was.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Um so thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe and share with others. Um, you can follow us on uh Instagram as well at thescandy shift or email us at thescandyshift at gmail.com. And honestly, subscribing and sharing with others really helps other people find us. And that's building this community and making it a little lighthearted and easier to be here and an exat in Denmark. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

So tech for day, tak for day, and then we'll be able to do it.