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handel og vandel
Tp.

Glossary entry

Danish term or phrase:

koste rundt med nogen

English translation:

ordere somebody about

Added to glossary by Hanne Sterndorf
Jan 11, 2006 04:11
18 yrs ago
Danish term

kostede han rundt

Danish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature historical novel set in Tudor England
"Den sommer Walter forlod Wingfield, havde Sir Thomas knap nok haft tid til at sige farvel. Høsten var slået fejl, og med sin rastløse energi og hen over hovedet på Lady Emma, overtog Sir Thomas styringen af den samlede husholdning. Så mange tønder tørrede ærter, sulemad, saltet fisk og kål samt brød i mængder skulle være klar.
Endda stående på folkestuens bord kostede han rundt med hele den hovedrystende flok. Ved hans dør måtte end ikke hundrede fattige gå forgæves efter mad."
Proposed translations (English)
5 +3 order about
4 +2 he busied them
5 +1 He bossed them around

Proposed translations

+3
3 hrs
Selected

order about

Og ellers enig med andet forslag om betydning. Det er at være "bossy", når man koster rundt med nogen.
Peer comment(s):
agree Christian Schoenberg
2 hrs
neutral Diarmuid Kennan : Ordered about. The "bossy" element is important. See ordbogen.com under "koste", bottom of the page.
4 hrs
agree Mads Grøftehauge : I think this works best in a historical novel. The bossiness is amply displayed in the fact that the man is standing on top of a table... BTW, the grammatical form might be 'ordering about', depending on Tara's syntactic choices.
4 hrs
agree Bente Sorensen
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks!"
+2
2 hrs

he busied them

means to give commands (in a bossy way) to people so they do chores or get on with their duties
Peer comment(s):
agree Christian Schoenberg
3 hrs
agree Dziadzio
4 hrs
disagree Diarmuid Kennan : Sorry, but I have never heard this expression in my 43 years. "busied myself" or "busied himself" yes, but not "busied" another person. If you google "busied them" the only hits are archaic. The Danish text is not archaic.
5 hrs
perhaps "kept them busy with" and then mention the various task they have been asked to do
neutral lone (X) : maybe 'kept them busy' but it seems too vague in the context
5 hrs
agree Jande : I hear that term all the time. He/She busied them with ...(especially with small children) Although on the weekend someone did remark "Keep them busy!"
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
8 hrs

He bossed them around

see ordbogen.com. Look up "koste" and see the last entry on the page. See also my comments on the other two suggestions.
Reference:

http://www.ordbogen.com

Peer comment(s):
agree lone (X)
1 min
Something went wrong...
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