Dutchom zeep helpen
Meaning: To kill or eliminate someone.
Literally: To help around soap
Example: “De hoge huur hielp het buurtcafé om zeep.” — The high rent finished off the neighborhood café.
Origin: Om zeep gaan first meant simply going out to buy soap, running an errand, as Stoett and Onze Taal explain. It then became an excuse for slipping away, and from there it meant leaving, disappearing and dying, a sense already found in the 17th century in Constantijn Huygens. Om zeep helpen (helping someone off for soap) is the later, ironic form. The story that sailors sent to fetch Spanish soap from the Mediterranean seldom came back is not supported: the errand sense is older than the soap imports.
More Dutch idioms
- niet op zijn mond gevallen zijn To be outspoken and forthright; to speak one's mind without hesitation.
- tussen neus en lippen door To say something in passing or casually, without emphasis or drawing attention to it.
- op eigen benen staan To be independent and self-sufficient; to support oneself without relying on others.
- van lotje getikt To be crazy or eccentric; to be not quite sane.
- in de wind slaan To deliberately ignore or disregard something.
- niet veel soeps Unimpressive or mediocre; not worth much.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Khalyava Something good got for free and without effort — and, strictly, something you were never…
- Beloruchka Someone who dodges dirty or hard work — a person whose hands stay conspicuously clean.
- Zapoi A bender running for days, in which a person drops out of ordinary life entirely.
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