Eddermaneme fedt!

Direct translation A proper satan

Pronunciation [en ˈɒnˀli ˈsæːtan]

Meaning Something that is much bigger than usual. 

Use Might be said about huge snakes, spiders, sharks, warts, tumors, vegetables, cars... There’s a tendency to use it about something that make you a bit uncomfortable.

“Jeg åbnede køkkenskabet og så sad der sådan en ordentlig satan af en sølvfisk på væggen. Jeg skreg og smækkede skabslågen i igen.”

EF Education First made a survey of English skills around the world giving Danes a fifth place. Which would be okay if not for the fact that our arch enemy, Sweden, is better than us. So a Danish journalist (Flemming Mønster, in the article called Flaming Monster) wrote a witty reply mixing Danish and English called  Dårligst to english in Skandinavien: So have man denonde-lyneme heard that with! 

Direct translation {something} parts the waters

Meaning {something} creates (strongly) opposed opinions.

Pronunciation [ˈdeːˀlɐ ˈvann̩nə]

(# symbolizes a number)

Direct translation The #th in #th

Danes don’t need to specifically say the month to refer to a date, they can just say two ordinal numbers:

Den tiende i fjerde → ‘the tenth in fourth’ → the 10th of April / April 10th Den 23. i tolvte → ‘the 23rd in twelfth’ → the 23rd of December / December 23rd

And so on... But most importantly this also makes these puns possible:

Hvornår har bageren fødsesdag?  Den ellevte i ellevte. ‘When is it the baker’s birthday?’ ‘The eleventh of November’ (Sounds like “the knead in knead”)

Direct translation To sweat out

Meaning To forget

Pronunciation [ʌ sveːð̩ ˈuðˀ]

Use Informal use.

If your name ends in -a or -ah you can make it sound more Danish by replacing these endings with -e and pronounce them like [ə] (here’s how to do that). The result is often real danish names:

Direct translation To be (right) on the stairs

Meaning To be (right) about to arrive

Pronunciation [a væːɐ liːi pɔ ˈtʁɑbɐnə]

Direct translation Heart pain music

Meaning Songs about heartbreaks and difficult love. The more emotional, the better they fit this term.

Use “Jeg ved ik’, jeg hører ikke så meget Christian Brøns, det er lidt for meget hjertesmertemusik for min smag”

“l don’t know, I don’t listen that much to Christian Brøns, it’s a bit too much heart pain music for my taste”

Famous Danish hjertesmerte song

Direct translation Teehee giggle

Direct translation Did you fall into the barrel?

Meaning  This phrase has a literal and an practical meaning: Literal: Did you fall into the toilet? Practical: I think you spent a lot of time on the toilet (how come?)

Pronunciation [fald du i ˈtøn.n̩]

Use “Nåh, dér kom du endelig gamle jas. Faldt du i tønden?” “Må man nu ikke engang se en lille bitte TED-talk når man endelig har tid?”

Direct translation Gunpowder owl

Meaning A very energetic person, often about children

Direct translation Sjokth place (lit. number sjok)

Meaning The last person to finish (in a competition); sometimes due to laziness. 

“At sjokke” means ‘to move about lazily’.

Direct translation Mud throwing

Meaning Unruly debate characterised by insults and offensive speech

Direct translation Logic for cage chickens

Meaning Something that is very easy to understand

Pronunciation [lo.ˈɡiɡ fʌ ˈbuɐ̯.hœnˀs]

Direct translation Hold now gob (informal word for “mouth”)!

Meaning 1. Shut up! (first pronunciation, original meaning) 2. Wow / Oh my god (second pronunciation)

Use When using the second meaning, as the IPA describes, it’s important to only stress the first word and a bit important to make the [l] long.

1.  “Du kan godt lide Bjørn, jeg kan se det på dig, gå nu hen og kys ham, du vil jo gerne, du kan ikke vente til det bare er jer to, I skal sidde og snave hele-” “Hold nu kæft, Eva!” “You like Bjørn, I can tell by your look, go over to him and kiss him, you know you want to, you can’t wait until it’s just you two, you’re gonna be snogging all-” “Shut up, Eva!”

Direct translation Fire soul

Meaning One who is extremely passionate about something, often about big cooperative projects.