# There is a dog buried there



## sakvaka

*Finnish* has the idiom _siinä on koira haudattuna_ (there's a dog buried there). In English it would be _there's a catch to this somewhere _- in other words, this situation is so weird that it must be affected by some "catch" that I don't just realize.

I've read it would originally be a German phrase. It is based on the belief that you would easily stumble in the point where a dog has been buried.

But does it exist in other languages? What would it be in German?


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## HUMBERT0

In Spanish it could be: "Aquí hay gato encerrado"   - There's a shut up/locked up cat here.


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## enoo

*French*: _Il y a anguille sous roche_. (There's an eel under the rock)
Sometimes people use some creative variations like "il y a baleine sous gravillon" (there's a whale under the gravel  - ok, that one is rather colloquial).


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## bibax

*English:* There is a nigger in the woodpile (or fence). It means "some fact of considerable importance that is not disclosed".

_According to English Wikipedia._


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## Bigote Blanco

Bibax,
Como la de usted,  hay una palabras y frases terribles que uno no debe usar aqui en EE UU. 

BB


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## bibax

I didn't invent this saying. See the English Wikipedia for more information.

I understand that it is somewhat PC incorrect.


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian we have a similar saying but it is used to indicate that the 'catch" was discovered, rather than in anticipation of its discovery:
 
*вoт где сoбaкa зapыта!* [vot gde sobaka zaryta!] - that's where the dog is buried!


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## Bigote Blanco

bibax said:


> I didn't invent this saying. See the English Wikipedia for more information.
> 
> I understand that it is somewhat PC incorrect.


 
Bibax,

It is not a "somewhat" incorrect frase in EE UU, it is extremely incorrect. 

The following quote is from the English Wikipedia, 

"Anyone who knows me knows I do not condone this type of language *publicly or privately*."
BB


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## Encolpius

We use the same idiom in *Hungarian*: 

Itt van a kutya elásva. [lit.: here is buried the dog]


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## sakvaka

Can a Swedish speaking person confirm this one?

*Swedish*: _Jag anar ugglor i mossen._


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## apmoy70

In Greek we say that «κάποιο λάκκο έχει η φάβα» ('kapço 'lako* 'eçi i 'fava**) lit. "there's a ditch in the split pea patch"

*«λάκκος» ('lakos, _m._); Classical masculine noun «λάκκος» ('lākkŏs)--> init. _pond, cistern _lat. _any ditch, pit_; PIE base *laku-, _water pond, ditch_, cognate to French _lac_, Irish and Scottish Gaelic _loch_.
**«φάβα» ('fava, _f._); Latin loan word _faba_--> _broad beans _(in Greek however, fava is the split peas)


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## se16teddy

The only similar animal-related idiom I can think of in English is _the fly in the ointment_, referring to a difficulty in an otherwise good (not weird) situation. The origin is Biblical - Ecclesiastes 10:1 _Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour_ 

For obvious PC reasons Bibax's suggestion of post 4 is best avoided.


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## mcibor

In Polish, like in Russian a similar saying is used to indicate that the catch has been discovered:

Tu leży pies pogrzebany! "Here lays buried dog"

To say, that there's a "catch" somewhere, Polish use word

haczyk - hook

Musi być tu jakiś haczyk (there must be some hook/catch here)


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## tFighterPilot

Hebrew: פה קבור הכלב - po kavur hakelev - "here the dog is burried"


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## SuperXW

In Chinese, it's more straight forward.
這裡有個陷阱。 -"Here has a trap."
Can be said to secret plots, exam questions, etc.


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## AutumnOwl

sakvaka said:


> Can a Swedish speaking person confirm this one?
> 
> *Swedish*: _Jag anar ugglor i mossen._


There are two expressions in Swedish, one is "_ana ugglor i mossen_" (suspect owls in the bog), the other is "_det är en hund begrave_n", (there is a dog buried). According to this site: http://www.ordbruket.com/webcross/artiklar/ugglor.htm the expression with owls from the beginning was the Danish "_der er ulve i mosen_", (there are wolves in the bog).


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## ilocas2

Serbocroatian:

*u tom grmu leži/čuči zec* - hare is lying/squatting in that bush


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## anahiseri

In Dutch:

Er zit een addertje onder het gras 
There's a snake in the grass


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## Penyafort

*Catalan*

*Aquí hi ha gat amagat = *There's a hidden cat here
*Ací hi ha gat en sac = *There's a cat in a sack here


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## bibax

In Czech we also have the buried dog, perhaps it's a calque from German:

*Tady je ten zakopaný pes! = Da liegt der Hund begraben!*


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## ilocas2

Hello, I want to say that the fact that I didn't write the Czech equivalent doesn't mean that I don't know it.  There is no rule that you must write firstly idioms from your native language and only if they are already written in the thread you can write idioms from other languages.  I decided deliberately not to write the Czech equivalent, simply because I didn't want to write it, no more, no less.


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## j-p-c

I think the closest equivalent in English is "I smell a rat".


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