“There’s no cow on the ice!”
- The International
- Nov 16
- 3 min read
Brooke Taylor Fossey's guide to ten Danish sayings that’ll make you feel more at home in Denmark.
Images: Unsplash
Text: Brooke Taylor Fossey
Danish idioms and sayings offer a fascinating window into the country’s culture and humor – and nothing delights Danes more than hearing you use them. They also make learning the language feel fresh again, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve hit a plateau. Learn a few, drop them into conversation, and see what kind of reaction you get!
Let’s start with a familiar feeling. At have sommerfugle i maven – to have butterflies in your stomach – is used when you’re nervous or excited. There’s no dramatic backstory here, but it’s an image that sticks. Even better: the Danish word for butterfly, sommerfugl, literally means “summer bird.”
When the wind picks up, you might hear someone say det blæser en halv pelikan! – it’s blowing a half pelican. The expression dates to the 1950s, born from a bit of playful rhyme: orkan (hurricane) sounds like pelikan (pelican), and the joke took off.
Then there’s the classic reassurance: der er ingen ko på isen – there’s no cow on the ice, meaning “there’s no problem.” Few Danes realise the saying has a Swedish origin, and that the full version ends with så længe rumpen er i land –“as long as the rear end is on land.” Suddenly, it makes perfect sense when you hear the whole saying!
Some idioms describe behavior in charmingly literal ways. At gå som katten om den varme grød – to walk like the cat around the hot porridge – means to beat around the bush. It’s easy to picture someone circling a tricky topic the way a cat circles warm porridge, waiting for it to cool. Cats feature in plenty of Danish expressions: if you look terrible, you might ligne noget, katten har slæbt ind (look like something the cat dragged in), and if you buy something sight unseen and got swindled, you’ve købt katten i sækken (bought the cat in the sack).
Animals are everywhere in Danish sayings. At slå to fluer med ét smæk – to kill two flies with one blow – mirrors the English, “two birds with one stone.” At sluge en kamel – to swallow a camel – means to compromise or accept something unpleasant.
Some animals you need to look out for. Der er ugler i mosen – there are owls in the bog – suggests that something suspicious is going on. The saying originally used ulver (wolves) rather than ugler (owls); the sound changed as the expression spread from Jutland to Copenhagen.
Some idioms, though, are pure fun. At gå helt agurk – to go completely cucumber – means to go crazy or lose control, much like “to go bananas” in English. Why cucumbers? No one really knows, but the word agurk pops up again in agurketid (“cucumber time”), meaning the quiet summer period when little happens.
Sayings are often wonderfully visual. At tage benene på nakken – to take your legs on your neck – means to run away or hurry off especially if you’ve done something wrong, and at få blod på tanden – to get blood on the tooth – means to get a taste for something and want more, an image drawn from predators eagerness for the hunt.
And if you ever stå med håret (/skægget/fletningerne) i postkassen – stand with your hair (/ beard/braids) in the mailbox – you’re in an awkward or powerless situation, stuck for everyone to see. On a brighter note, at tage ja-hatten på – to put on your “yes-hat” – means to approach something with positivity and an open mind.
Learning idioms is one of the most enjoyable ways to broaden your Danish and connect on a cultural level. Idioms bring texture to conversation and can make you feel surprisingly at home.
If you’re ready to explore more, try looking up themed idioms like animals, body parts or foods. Københavns Sprogskole has excellent idiom collections, and the free dictionary app Den Danske Ordbog is perfect for digging into meanings and origins. You might just find that you’re, as the Danes say, fik blod på tanden – eager for more.
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