Danish expression of the day: Hulter til bulter
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This expression is neither here nor there, but it could be everywhere.
What is hulter til bulter?
We usually begin our word of the day explanations by providing translations of the words that make up the expression or compound word that is the focus of the day’s article.
That’s a bit difficult to do with hulter til bulter, because apart from the preposition til (‘to’ or ‘for’ depending on context), the words don’t mean anything.
Neither hulter nor bulter appears independent of each other as a word with a distinct meaning or in any other expression, anywhere in the Danish language.
The phrase is thought to have originated from nonsense words that were paired together, possibly in German or Dutch, because they make a funny sound.
Getting around to the meaning: when something (usually a group of things) are described as hulter til bulter, they are very untidy or disorganised. Objects in a room can be left hulter til bulter, as can a piece of work that requires well organised elements to be gathered together.
Why do I need to know hulter til bulter?
It’s a good way of expressing your dissatisfaction with a scene of chaos that needs tidying and reorganising without sounding overly agitated.
There are other expressions that use nonsense, sometimes onomatopoeic words to form an expression in this way. A possible example in English is ‘helter skelter’.
In Danish, you can say på må og få (‘at random’), hist og her (’here and there’) and ditten og datten (‘this and that’).
These make similar use of nonsensical words to form a phrase, but are a bit easier to trace to real words and so their meanings are perhaps a little more obvious if you’ve not come across them before.
Examples
Kan vi ikke få ryddet op lidt herinde? Der ligger ting og sager hulter til bulter.
Can we please tidy up a bit in here? There are bits and pieces strewn all over the place.
Jeg tog mine noter frem, men der var ingen orden i tingene. Jeg havde skrevet nærmest tilfældige tanker hulter til bulter på papiret.
I took out my notes but there was no order to them. I’d scribbled almost random thoughts here and there across the paper.
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What is hulter til bulter?
We usually begin our word of the day explanations by providing translations of the words that make up the expression or compound word that is the focus of the day’s article.
That’s a bit difficult to do with hulter til bulter, because apart from the preposition til (‘to’ or ‘for’ depending on context), the words don’t mean anything.
Neither hulter nor bulter appears independent of each other as a word with a distinct meaning or in any other expression, anywhere in the Danish language.
The phrase is thought to have originated from nonsense words that were paired together, possibly in German or Dutch, because they make a funny sound.
Getting around to the meaning: when something (usually a group of things) are described as hulter til bulter, they are very untidy or disorganised. Objects in a room can be left hulter til bulter, as can a piece of work that requires well organised elements to be gathered together.
Why do I need to know hulter til bulter?
It’s a good way of expressing your dissatisfaction with a scene of chaos that needs tidying and reorganising without sounding overly agitated.
There are other expressions that use nonsense, sometimes onomatopoeic words to form an expression in this way. A possible example in English is ‘helter skelter’.
In Danish, you can say på må og få (‘at random’), hist og her (’here and there’) and ditten og datten (‘this and that’).
These make similar use of nonsensical words to form a phrase, but are a bit easier to trace to real words and so their meanings are perhaps a little more obvious if you’ve not come across them before.
Examples
Kan vi ikke få ryddet op lidt herinde? Der ligger ting og sager hulter til bulter.
Can we please tidy up a bit in here? There are bits and pieces strewn all over the place.
Jeg tog mine noter frem, men der var ingen orden i tingene. Jeg havde skrevet nærmest tilfældige tanker hulter til bulter på papiret.
I took out my notes but there was no order to them. I’d scribbled almost random thoughts here and there across the paper.
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