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Death euphemisms in different languages

 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
28 messages over 4 pages: 13 4  Next >>
vermillon
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 Message 9 of 28
22 June 2012 at 12:06pm | IP Logged 
Mandarin has my absolute favourite (among many other ways to say it in Mandarin):

他去见马克思了。"He went to see Marx."
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prz_
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 Message 10 of 28
22 June 2012 at 12:21pm | IP Logged 
Polish: kopnąć w kalendarz - kick the calendar :D
Even better: spocząć w Panu [take a sit/rest? (quite tough to translate) in Lord]
Of course the second one is rather archaic.

Edited by prz_ on 22 June 2012 at 12:24pm

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montmorency
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 Message 11 of 28
22 June 2012 at 1:12pm | IP Logged 
Slightly different, but there is also in German:

Jemanden um die Ecke bringen: to kill someone; lit. to bring someone around the
corner
.

(Len Deighton uses this in the literal English translation in "Funeral in Berlin").


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Ogrim
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 Message 12 of 28
22 June 2012 at 2:23pm | IP Logged 
In Norwegian,

Gå heden (go from here)
Reise til de evige jaktmarker (travel to the eternal hunting fields)
Bli forfremmet til herligheten (be promoted to the glory)
Bli revet bort (to be thorn away)
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onurdolar
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 Message 13 of 28
23 June 2012 at 12:41am | IP Logged 
In Turkish;


First more vulgar ones;

nalları dikmek = to raise the horseshoes
dört kolluya binmek = to get into the four way ( reference to coffin being carried by
four people in muslim funerals )
tahtalı köyü boylamak = to go to the village with boards ( again a reference to muslim
graves where you place the body between wooden boards )

and more polite stuff;
hakkın rahmetine kavuşmak = to reach the god's compassion
ebediyete intikal etmek = to be reverted to eternity


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prz_
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 Message 14 of 28
23 June 2012 at 1:11am | IP Logged 
I have to ask my teacher how it is in Persian. I guess, as far as I know this language, that these phrases will be very, very interesting...
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Zireael
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 Message 15 of 28
24 June 2012 at 5:39pm | IP Logged 
prz_ wrote:
Polish: kopnąć w kalendarz - kick the calendar :D
Even better: spocząć w Panu [take a sit/rest? (quite tough to translate) in Lord]
Of course the second one is rather archaic.


"Spocząć w Panu" is "to rest in [Our] Lord"

There's also "gryźć ziemię" - "to eat dirt". Usually seen in the perfective sense.
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tarvos
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 Message 16 of 28
30 August 2012 at 1:45pm | IP Logged 
For Dutch:

heengaan (to go from here, to pass away, like in Scandinavian)
de pijp uit gaan (going out the pipe)
de bloemetjes van onderen bekijken (looking at the flowers from below)
kassie-wijlen gaan (untranslatable).

The latter one is fun because apparently it's a really worn down version that has entered
the Dutch language through that long-forgotten source of loanwords - Yiddish. Apparently
has to do with Bargoens (Amsterdam Jewish slang).

Edited by tarvos on 30 August 2012 at 1:47pm



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