ließ den Knüppel im Sack
English translation: left his big stick at home
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| 01:57 May 5, 2005 |
| German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Linguistics | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Kim Metzger Mexico Local time: 21:51 | ||||||
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Answers
11 mins confidence: 
| ließ den Knüppel im Sack refrained from giving the other party a hard time Explanation: literally of course "left the club/truncheon in the bag", alluding to a Grimm tale. |
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18 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1| ließ den Knüppel im Sack did not produce any unpleasant surprises Explanation: The expression refers to Grimm's fairytale 'Tischleindeckdich'- 'The Wishing-Table, The Gold-Ass, and The Cudgel in the Sack'. (A cudgel is produced and an unsuspecting innkeeper suffers a beating.) 'Cudgel out of the sack,' and the cudgel will leap forth among ... www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm036.html The context will tell you if my suggestion (the unpleasant surprise) works |
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32 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
peer agreement (net): +2| ließ den Knüppel im Sack left his get-tough policy at home Explanation: Knüppel aus dem Sack holen is to wield a big stick or get tough, so "ließ den Knüppel im Sack" is to refrain from wielding a big stick or from getting tough. "Wield a big stick" means to use one's power to influence someone or a country. Two reformers who swore allegiance to one another .... The "friend of Turkey" received his third honorary doctorate and left his get-tough policy at home -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 38 mins (2005-05-05 02:35:32 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Or \"left his big stick at home\" Harper Collins German Unabridged Dictionary |
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3 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
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