Jan 13, 2018 16:40
6 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Danish term

Barmemad

Danish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
In a single sentence in an execise on idiomatic expressions:

Hun gik ind for fri hash. Nu er hun gået over i den anden barnemad.

Thank you!

Discussion

Henrik Hdez.-Villaescus Hirsch (asker) Jan 22, 2018:
I'm so sorry, yes, there was a mistake, an thank you, Christine Andersen, because you gave the correct one: ´gået over i den anden grøft´. I'm so sorry about making you all wasting your time... and for those to tried to give an answer, thank you too, I haven't choosen no of your answers because you all should have the points. I'm sorry
Christine Andersen Jan 15, 2018:
Trick question? Is this one of those articles or lists of examples where people get idioms or proverbs wrong?
You would expect ´gået over i den anden grøft´, literally the opposite ditch, which would mean she has changed her opinion entirely, i.e. now she wants to ban hash altogether. But that is not what your text says! (As Thomas T. Frost points out.)
As others mention, ´barnemad´ does not fit here at all.
´Banedel´ - the other end of the (football) pitch, might mean she was ´playing for the other team´, just another way of saying she had changed her mind.
The sentence still does not make a lot of sense as it stands, however.

Henrik Hdez.-Villaescus Hirsch (asker) Jan 15, 2018:
More information Of course, Thomas Krog, thanks, the correct spelling is "Barnemad".
The sentence is taken from a grammar exercise book from Gyldendal, so I don't think there's an incorrect sentence. Maybe is some dialectal word for "drug"?
Thomas T. Frost Jan 13, 2018:
Makes no sense Barnemad means child's play (figurative) and is almost never used in the literal meaning. But it makes no sense here. Perhaps the writer intended to use another word, such as "boldgade" (a person's preferred area of activity) or "grøft" (extreme situation, state or attitude that someone or something has got into or taken and which is difficult to get out of), but wrote barnemad by distraction. I have no other ideas. Well, perhaps voice recognition was used and not properly checked.

Proposed translations

12 hrs
Danish term (edited): Barnemad
Selected

Piece of cake

Piece of cake would generally be the nearest English translation term for "Barnemad". But the sentence provided makes very little sense - it is basically broken Danish (i.e. not correct Danish). I can only make a qualified guess as to what the proper meaning here would be. "She was in favour of legalising hashish/hash/pot. Now she has embraced the other harmless variety.", would be my suggestion. There are many Danes these days, who do not know how to write correct Danish :-)
Example sentence:

She was in favour of legalising hashish/hash/pot. Now she has embraced the other harmless variety.

Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you, I couldn't see this sense, but its the one that fits most"
+1
1 min

baby food

Declined
typo - should be barnemad

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2018-01-13 16:45:13 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I just realised the spelling in the sentence is correct, but I have no idea what they mean by the word in this context - perhaps they mean something like "populist policy" - it's easy to digest.
Peer comment(s):

agree Pernille Kienle : The source makes no real sense to me... Barnemad doesn't fit in this context in my humble opinion
30 mins
neutral Thomas T. Frost : Barnemad is almost never used in this meaning. It's a figurative word that means child's play, but I don't get the meaning in this context.
33 mins
Something went wrong...
46 mins

Barnemad?

The sentence does not make any sense in Danish.

However, to help with the translation:
Barmemad literally means Bosom (a womans chest) food.

This is a strange word, which does not exist in a danish dictionary, so the closest thing would be a misspelling.

This would make it Barnemad, which means childs play/easy mode, but again, it does not seem relevant for this sentence, since the structuring makes no sense!
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search