Att smita från notan
Meaning: To dodge paying or shirk responsibility.
Language: Swedish
Literally: To slip away from the bill
Category: Daily Life
Origin: Sneaking off before the restaurant bill arrives pictures wriggling out of what you owe.
Equivalents in other languages
- Russian: Ехать зайцем (Yekhat' zaytsem) — literally: To ride as a hare
- Italian: Fare il portoghese — literally: To do the Portuguese
More idioms — Daily Life
- Att sätta sig på tvären — To be obstinate and refuse to cooperate.
- 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 (yadrib fi hadid barid) — To waste effort on a hopeless task.
- از این ستون به آن ستون فرج است (az in sotun be ān sotun faraj ast) — Even a small change may bring hope.
More Swedish idioms
- ge järnet — Exert maximum effort; give one's all.
- 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…
- köra med — To tease, bully, or push someone around.
From our untranslatable words
- Toska — A dull ache of the soul; a great longing with nothing in particular to long for.
- Dépaysement — The disorienting yet often pleasant feeling of being far from home, immersed in the unfam…
- Flâner — To wander a city slowly and aimlessly, savouring it with no destination in mind — the art…