Att ha rent mjöl i påsen

Literally: To have clean flour in the bag

Example: “Revisorn hittade inget fel, företaget har rent mjöl i påsen.” — The auditor found nothing wrong; the company is completely above board.

English equivalent: Above board

Origin: Grounded in the very real, historically documented dishonesty of some millers, who ground and sold flour on commission and occasionally stretched their profits by mixing in husks, chaff, or other cheap filler while still charging customers for a full sack of pure flour. One specific historical case survives from 1868, involving a miller named Carl Olof Lindström, who was contracted to mill grain for the Swedish crown but reportedly prioritized his own private paying customers instead — meaning the crown's own share never actually arrived as pure, unadulterated flour. The expression is documented in print from 1932, and its use increased noticeably during wartime years, when diluting goods sold by loose weight — flour among them — became a genuinely common way for less scrupulous shopkeepers to quietly cut corners. "Having clean flour in your bag" settled into its now-standard meaning: being honest and above-board, with nothing dishonest mixed in to hide.