something is rotten in the state of Denmark
Meaning: Something is seriously wrong, often something being hidden.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The accounts don't add up and the manager won't answer calls: something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”
Category: The Absurd
Origin: From Shakespeare's Hamlet (around 1600), where the officer Marcellus says it after seeing the ghost of the dead king.
Equivalents in other languages
- Portuguese: há algo de podre no reino da Dinamarca — literally: there is something rotten in the kingdom of Denmark
More idioms — The Absurd
- all hell breaks loose — Chaos and disorder suddenly erupt.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
- Da steppt der Bär — It's going to be a great party.
- Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift — I can't believe it! That's outrageous!
- Estar como una cabra — To be completely crazy.
More English idioms
- at this stage of the game — At this point in a process, usually when it is late to change things.
- get the hang of something — To learn how to do something.
- the eye of the storm — The center of a crisis; sometimes a brief calm in the middle of it.
- poor as a church mouse — Extremely poor.
- go all out — To make the greatest possible effort.
- at the end of the day — When everything is taken into account; in the end.
From our tongue twisters
- Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter's bitter. — A 'b / t / tt' plosive drill that bounces between Betty, butter, and bitter.
- She sells seashells by the seashore. — The definitive 's' versus 'sh' alternation — the tongue has to switch place of articulati…
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.