Skägget i brevlådan

Meaning: Caught red-handed in an awkward, embarrassing position.

Language: Swedish

Literally: With your beard in the mailbox

Category: The Absurd

Origin: Twentieth-century Swedish humor: stoop to peek through the mail slot and it snaps shut on your beard — guilty and stuck.

More idioms — The Absurd

• يعمل من الحبة قبة — To blow something tiny completely out of proportion.
• Helt texas — Utterly wild, chaotic or out of control.
• Det blæser en halv pelikan — It is extremely windy.
• Ei ole kaikki muumit laaksossa — Someone isn't quite all there.
• לאכול סרטים — To overthink and imagine dramatic worst-case scenarios.
• خر بیار و باقالی بار کن — Utter chaos; an endless, overwhelming mess.

More Swedish idioms

• Ana ugglor i mossen — To sense that something fishy is going on.
• Lägga rabarber på något — To claim or grab something for yourself.
• Nu har du satt din sista potatis — You've done your last misdeed; you're finished.
• Att göra en pudel — To make a public, grovelling apology.
• Att ha tummen mitt i handen — To be hopelessly clumsy; all thumbs.
• Nu är det kokta fläsket stekt — Now we're really in trouble.

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