At the request of Doug, I’ll update this page to show a collection of my favourite Dutch expressions and phrases.
“Pulling old cows out of the lake/stream/canal” – (e.g. ‘Laten we geen oude koeien uit de sloot halen‘)
As you might expect, this is referring to talking about incidents in the past. Think of letting sleeping dogs lie.
“The shoes with the iron noses” – Okay, so this isn’t a phrase as such, just a literal translation of ‘Steel toe-capped shoes’.
“Slurf” – An elephant’s trunk.
“For this time, I’ll see it through the fingers” – You can probably imagine this one, it just means ‘I’ll let it slide this time‘.
“To snap an owl” – The Dutch equivalent of ‘to get 40-winks’ (“een uiltje knappen”)
“Now I see the monkey coming out of your sleeve” – “Now you reveal your true intention/meaning.”
“We’re two hands on one belly” – ‘Twee handed op een buik” – “We’re two peas in a pod”; “we’re the same.”
“Make your breast wet!” – “Brace yourself!”
“I’ve not eaten any cheese of that” – “I don’t know anything about that”
“I have not fallen on my behind-head” – “I’m not crazy”
“Shoot out of my slippers” – “uit m’n slof schiet“ - Explode/lose it/go crazy
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