IdiomBody & Senses
Dutch
Dutcheen uur in de wind stinken
Meaning: To smell extremely bad.
Literally: To stink an hour in the wind
Example: “Na een week in de tent stonken zijn sokken een uur in de wind.” — After a week in the tent, his socks stank to high heaven.
English equivalent: To stink to high heaven
Equivalents in other languages
English: stink to high heaven
Origin: To stink an hour into the wind is to smell so strongly that one could be smelled an hour's walk away, even against the wind. The phrase is a colloquial exaggeration, and its origin and first use are not documented.
More Dutch idioms
- uit zijn plaat gaan To lose control of oneself or go crazy.
- Twee vliegen in één klap slaan To achieve two things with a single action.
- De pot verwijt de ketel dat hij zwart is Someone criticizes another person for a fault they have themselves.
- Het sop is de kool niet waard It isn't worth the trouble.
- Helaas, pindakaas Too bad, nothing can be done about it.
- Nu komt de aap uit de mouw The truth is finally revealed.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
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- Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan. Eight consecutive l-words, with the vowel behind the l changing every time.
- De kat krabt de krullen van de trap. A 'kr' cluster drill — Dutch consonant pileups that beginners approach with dread.
- Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna. The same noun/verb homograph trap as the German version — vliegen does triple duty.
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