# to have a frog in your throat



## DearPrudence

Hello 

I have a pretty random question.

In English you can say "*to have a frog in your throat*". (I think it's the same in Dutch).
In French too we mention an animal, but it's a cat: "*avoir un chat dans la gorge*".

Do you mention an animal in your language? And if so, which one?

Thanks (hoping the question has not been asked already)


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## dropofrain

Not in Spanish, as we say: "tengo carraspera"(nothing to do with animals)


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## sokol

It is possible to say in German:

einen Frosch im Hals haben

This basically is the same as the English phrase. I am not sure though how common this is; I only know it from a song (by a Bavarian group) which is quite well known also in Austria but I haven't heard the phrase used ever in Austria, in everyday speech.
It might be more common though in Germany.


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## Mahaodeh

Not in Arabic, you just say "dry throat" = حلق جاف = Halqun jaaf


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## Hermocrates

In Italian:

_*Avere un rospo in gola *_(=to have a toad in your throat)

Rye


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## Saluton

To have difficulty in speaking because your throat feels dry and you want to cough? I don't think the Russian language has an idiom for that. We would say it literally or just
*в горле пересохло* (one's throat feels dry).


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *

We don not mention any animal we say: gombóc van a torkában [have a dumpling in one's throat] and I'm not sure what it means exactly


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*«Έχω ένα γδάρσιμο στο λαιμό μου» ['exo 'ena 'ɣðarsimo sto le'mo mu]* --> _I have a scrape in my throat_
*«Καταπίνω ξυράφια» [kata'pino ksi'rafça]* --> _to swallow up razor blades_ (ouch!)

No animals I'm afraid


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## bibax

Czech (like in Hungarian):

mít *knedlík* v krku = to have a dumpling (Knödel) in the throat;

Russian: ком в горле?
French: avoir une boule dans la gorge?

BTW, it is a symptom of _dysphagia_ (difficulty in swallowing).


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## Encolpius

But I think the Czech idiom is not applicable for a person whose throat is dry, right? It means something different. Just like the Hungarian. (?)


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## DearPrudence

Saluton said:


> To have difficulty in speaking because your throat feels dry and you want to cough? I don't think the Russian language has an idiom for that. We would say it literally or just
> *в горле пересохло* (one's throat feels dry).


I think we are drifting from the subject.
Actually "*avoir un chat dans la gorge*" just means that you feel like coughing (and you feel better after that).
I also know what it is like to have difficulty swallowing because you are sick but this is compeltely different I would day.
(so I don't think "avoir une boule dans la gorge" is an equivalent either)


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## bibax

I didn't get what the frog in one's throat meant.

So we have no animals, we have dryness (mostly result of thirst) or tickling in the throat.


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## tFighterPilot

In Hebrew we said someone swallowed a frog (בלע צפרדע /balá tsfardeá/) if he did something he didn't want to do and lives with it.


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## Zsanna

I think, in Hungarian there is no expression with animals for it, only an adjective: berekedt. 
(Something that can be corrected by a cough, like in the original expressions.) 

The only "colourful" version for it would be: to speak in a "winetasting" voice - borízű hangon beszél (but especially when one is hoarse because of being drunk and that surely lasts longer).



Encolpius said:


> *Hungarian *
> 
> We don not mention any animal we say: gombóc van a torkában [have a dumpling in one's throat] and I'm not sure what it means exactly


This is really the case for "to have a lump in one's throat" or "avoir la gorge serrée" - there are worries behind, even a readiness to cry (=weep).


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## Saluton

DearPrudence said:


> I think we are drifting from the subject.
> Actually "*avoir un chat dans la gorge*" just means that you feel like coughing (and you feel better after that).
> I also know what it is like to have difficulty swallowing because you are sick but this is compeltely different I would day.
> (so I don't think "avoir une boule dans la gorge" is an equivalent either)


'To have difficulty in speaking because your throat feels dry and you want to cough' is a definition of 'have a frog in your throat' that I copied from the page linked to in the original post.


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## DearPrudence

Yes, I can see that  But to me, you should insist on the fact that it is not really painful and you would feel better simply by coughing.


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Få/sätta en tupp i halsen_ - get a rooster in the throat, when the voice suddenly breaks when speaking


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## ahmedcowon

Mahaodeh said:


> Not in Arabic, you just say "dry throat" = حلق جاف = Halqun jaaf





tFighterPilot said:


> In Hebrew we said someone swallowed a frog (בלע צפרדע /balá tsfardeá/) if he did something he didn't want to do and lives with it.



In Egyptian Arabic, we say "swallowed a rat" (بالع فار /bale3 faar/) if someone has a problem in his voice (ex. a singer who has a bad voice)

The expression "swallowed a frog" (بالع ضفدع /bale3 Dofda3/) is also used for the same meaning


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## Outsider

tFighterPilot said:


> In Hebrew we said someone swallowed a frog (בלע צפרדע /balá tsfardeá/) if he did something he didn't want to do and lives with it.


That's very interesting... In Portuguese there is the same saying!


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## merquiades

Hi Dear Prudence.  If we're sticking with the animal subject, I don't think "have a frog in the throat" is the exact equivalent with "avoir un chat dans la gorge" or to throw out a Spanish one "tener un pollo en la garganta".
The first one is to be hoarse.
The second one is have a dry hacking cough.
The third one is to have some mucus in the throat you must cough up.


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## AutumnOwl

In Swedish the frogs are not in the throat, they are something that jumps out of the mouth. _En groda_ (a frog) is the expression used for vocabulary mix-ups, where the meaning gets a bit odd. There is a site that collects medical frogs that end up in the case records of patients, when either the doctor says something that looks silly when written down, or the medical secretary have a misunderstanding of what the doctor says. An example: _Neurologiskt: knä-näs u a._ Neurological status: can touch the nose with the heel (should be can touch the knee with the heel). Hopefully I don't let too many frogs slip through my fingers when writing.


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## apmoy70

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek:
> 
> *«Έχω ένα γδάρσιμο στο λαιμό μου» ['exo 'ena 'ɣðarsimo sto le'mo mu]* --> _I have a scrape in my throat_
> *«Καταπίνω ξυράφια» [kata'pino ksi'rafça]* --> _to swallow up razor blades_ (ouch!)
> 
> No animals I'm afraid


 I apologize for quoting myself, but the above are the expressions we use when we experience  difficulty in swallowing food or liquids due to throat inflamation; when we feel a difficulty in speaking, and cough to clear up our throat, then we say *«κάνω κοκοράκια» ['kano koko'raca]* --> _to make cockerels_ (the same expression is used when we describe the voice cracking of adolescent males)


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