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German asking Danish person: is there a saying in danish that goes like "Well, then go to Wandsbek!"? (leddit.danmark.party)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have been reading something about the historical Hamburg of which Wandsbek is a district. Somewhere, I've read that it used to be a very free and liberal place so that there even is a saying in danish about it (German: "Ach, geh doch nach Wandsbek!") translated to "Well, then go to Wandsbek"! As in "so whatever you want". Is that true/is it a known or even used saying? Thank you danish people for your help!

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The original was posted on /r/denmark by /u/United_Housing_5323 at 2024-03-20 15:18:57+00:00.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

williewrap1 at 2024-03-20 16:46:27+00:00 ID: kvr87gg

I looked it up in the book 'Bevingede Ord' which is a collection of idioms, sayings and quotes. According to the author T. Vogel-Jørgensen there's only one such about Wandsbeck, and it goes "Gælder til Wandsbeck" which means "Valid for Wandsbeck".

The explanation given is that this idiom dates back to the time of the numbers lottery. The lottery winners were drawn at three locations: Copenhagen, Altona and Wandsbeck. If you were the owner of a lottery ticket for the latter and presented that ticket in Copenhagen, you would be told "that one is only valid for Wandsbeck".

The book goes on to explain that over time, this idiom got mixed up with a saying used by craftsmen apprentices travelling for work ("på valsen", as it was called). If they went to Hamburg in order to get "Geschenk", they would write Wandsbeck as destination even if they were only going to Altona. The reason was that the Altona trip wasn't far enough to receive "Geschenk". So the entry in their journey books would probably read Wandsbeck, and in conversations among the traveling workers, they might say of such a book that it is "valid for Wandsbeck".