syna i sömmarna
Meaning: To examine something with intense, often harsh scrutiny and criticism.
Language: Swedish
Literally: to see in the seams
Category: Daily Life
Origin: The image is of looking closely at stitching or seams in fabric to find flaws—a meticulous inspection that reveals defects.
More idioms — Daily Life
- sätta någon på plats — To rebuke or humble someone by establishing proper order or respect.
- högt spel — A risky venture or pursuit involving substantial stakes and danger.
- ta sig friheten — To take a liberty or privilege that one has not been explicitly granted.
- ta sig friheter — To act without appropriate restraint, especially to make inappropriate advances or impose…
- sjunga på sista versen — To be near the end of one's life or near the end of something's existence.
- bära eller brista — To succeed or fail; to endure the test or collapse under it.
More Swedish idioms
- lägga sig i — To insert oneself into a situation uninvited; to meddle or interfere.
- på hal is — In a precarious or dangerous situation that one cannot control or easily escape.
- surt sa räven — To claim that something undesirable was not worth having anyway, as a way of masking disa…
- slåss mot väderkvarnar — To engage in a futile struggle against imaginary or trivial enemies.
- ha is i magen — To remain calm and composed under pressure, resisting the urge to act rashly.
- mitt på ljusan dag — In broad daylight; openly and obviously, not in secret.
From our untranslatable words
- Mamihlapinatapai — The look between two people who both want the same thing but neither is willing to initia…
- Ubuntu — The philosophy that a person is a person only through other people — humanity expressed t…
- Jayus — A joke so unfunny, so badly delivered, that it becomes funny in its own right — a joke th…