Sending no love down the well

[muckefuck]

For reasons that are no longer clear to me (a state of affairs that has nothing to do with having a basil and a strawberry-mint mojito on a school night), I asked Nuphy, who was also at the party, "What's the German for 'closing the barn door after the horse is out'." My Very German Friend was right there, and he was offended that I hadn't asked him instead. "So what is it?" I asked. And, naturally, he couldn't think of it.

"NO YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LOOK IT UP WITH YOUR IPHONE!" I yelled at Nuphy, but that horse was already out the door. I went back to chatting with VGF. Ten minutes later, I noticed Nuphy still fiddling with his phone. "What are you doing?"

"I'm still trying to find the German for that expression. It's a difficult thing to Google for."

"Why are you Googling? Just go to LEO or BEOLINGUS or somewhere and look it up."

He did. Then he started cackling. "Den Brunnen zudecken, wenn das Kind ertrunken ist." VGF confirmed that, yes, he had actually heard that before. "That is SO German!" I exclaimed. Nuphy, for the benefit of one of the other guests, translated "Cover up the well after the child has drowned."

Update: Spanish version: "Ahogado el niño, tapado el pozo."

Comments

[anicca-anicca.livejournal.com]

Fwiw, I've never heard it phrased like that, only ever something like "wenn das Kind in den Brunnen gefallen ist" in the sense of "wenn es sowieso schon zu spät ist".

[anicca-anicca.livejournal.com]

Actually, this is what I have heard:
http://www.sprichwoerterbuch.de/sprichwort/ist-das-kind-erst-in-den-brunnen-gefallen-und-ertrunken-dann-ist-es-zu-spaet-um-diesen-oben-abzudecken-1067.html
(It's also slightly less creepy... ;-)

[itchwoot.livejournal.com]

same here...

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

Closest I can think of it in Polish atm is "musztarda po obiedzie".

[paulintoronto.livejournal.com]

I came across your livejournal via snousle, and I was so delighted by what I saw that I have added you to my friends list. I hope that is okay with you.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Keep that level of flattery up, and I'll be okay with whatever you do!

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

Some friends in SF (and we had all been drinking) once tried to come up with a formulaic for German Fairy tales, children's stories and our common denominator was Child X [a) neglected a good habit, b) was lax under thinking a simple task, c) committed a though crime] and [this was always the same] and thus died.