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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish expression of the day: At få blod på tanden

Why do Danes compare painting their apartments to tasting blood?

Published: 12 May 2022 17:46 CEST

What is at få blod på tanden?

At få blod på tanden literally means ‘to get blood on your tooth’.

The blood in question refers to a predator’s prey, although the expression itself is figurative and has little to do with actual teeth and blood, but is rather about being motivated. 

Specifically, at få blod på tanden refers to the special kind of determination that a wild animal gets after smelling blood.

Why do I need to know at få blod på tanden?

A Dane saying jeg fik blod på tanden (“I got blood on my tooth”) is really saying that they really got into something and couldn’t stop until it was finished: Det var planen, at vi skulle male ude på badeværelset, men så fik vi blod på tanden og endte med at male hele lejligheden (“We meant to paint the bathroom, but then we got carried away and ended up painting the whole apartment”).

At få blod på tanden is not something you say if you indulged or splurged, however.

A Dane would not, for example, say Jeg tog én lille chip, fik blod på tanden og spiste hele pakken (“I had one small crisp, got my teeth into it and ate the whole bag”). That is because at få blod på tanden is not really about excess.

As well as passively getting “blood on your teeth” a person or thing can also give someone else blood on their teeth.

For example, if you try out rock climbing for the first time and the experience gives you such as taste for the sport that it becomes your biggest hobby. Or if your best friend encourages you to try writing that short story you’ve been talking about, and you listen to them and throw yourself into the task: they gave you “blood on your teeth”.

At få blod tanden, then, expresses determination and drive. Like when you start cleaning your apartment, realise how filthy it is and keep on going until it’s all bright and shiny.

Example

Jeg løb mit første 10-kilometers løb i København i 2017. Det gav mig blod på tanden og jeg begyndte at træne til marathon.

I ran in a 10-kilometre race for the first time in Copenhagen in 2017. It gave me a passion for the sport and I started training for a marathon.

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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Kværn

This unassuming little word pops up surprisingly often in Danish, so it's a very good one to have in your vocabulary.

Published: 13 June 2024 17:08 CEST
Danish word of the day: Kværn

What is kværn?

Kværn is a noun meaning “mill” or “grinder”, used to refer to any kind of tool or machine that breaks a substance down into smaller pieces.

A kværn can be small, for example a peberkværn (pepper mill) or kaffekværn (coffee grinder).

There’s some overlap between kværn and mølle, the Danish word for “mill”. In the past, mølle might have been used to refer to household items like the coffee grinder. It’s now become the reserve of larger pieces of machinery like windmills (vindmølle), but there is stills a bit of interchangeability in Swedish, a sister tongue of Danish.

If you’re in Skåne – the Swedish province closet to Denmark — the word for “mill” in the local dialect is not kvarn but mölla.

Why do I need to know kværn?

The above describes how to use kværn as a noun, but it’s also a verb, at kværne, meaning “to grind” or “to mill”.

Apart from everyday uses like jeg kværner kaffebønnerne (”I’ll grind some coffee beans”), you won’t hear it too often in its literal sense, but it has a lot of figurative meanings too.

For example jeg var så sulten, at jeg kværnede maden uden at sige et ord means ”I was so hungry I gobbled down (literally ’crushed’ or ’ground’) the food without saying a word”.

This can also apply to drinking: han sad og kværnede bajere hele aftenen (“he sat there downing beers all evening”).

It can also be used to describe working very hard, as in jeg skal bare kværne, indtil projektet er færdig (“I have to keep grafting until the project is finished”).

Finally if someone kværner bare løs, it probably means they are talking non-stop.

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