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Att sätta sig på tvären

Meaning: To be obstinate and refuse to cooperate.

Language: Swedish

Literally: To sit down crosswise

Category: Daily Life

Origin: Planting yourself sideways across the way pictures stubborn, deliberate resistance.

More idioms — Daily Life

  • Wyjść jak Zabłocki na mydle — To lose out badly on a deal.
  • Pabuç pahalı — Things are getting dangerous; time to be careful.
  • İki ayağını bir pabuca sokmak — To rush and pressure someone relentlessly.
  • يضرب في حديد بارد — To waste effort on a hopeless task.
  • از این ستون به آن ستون فرج است — Even a small change may bring hope.
  • יצא מכליו — To lose your temper; to be beside yourself.

More Swedish idioms

  • ge järnet — Exert maximum effort; give one's all.
  • sitta med skägget i brevlådan — Be in a pickle or difficult predicament.
  • ta sig vatten över huvudet — Get in over one's head; take on more than one can manage.
  • under kniven — Undergoing surgery, or under intense pressure to perform.
  • fjällen falla från någons ögon — To suddenly understand something that was previously hidden or obscured.
  • en koloss på lerfötter — Something that appears powerful and impressive but rests on a fundamentally weak foundati…

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