What does “spille hellig” mean in Danish?
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B2 Danish listening practice · Standard Danish · Picked for people who know more
Danish has a sharp idiom for moral posturing: at spille hellig, literally “to play holy.” It accuses someone of acting more virtuous than they actually are. In this clip a father snaps it at his son’s friend, with the implication: stop pretending you’re not part of the problem.
The phrase sits in a small Danish family of spille (to play) constructions: spille dum (play dumb), spille kostbar (play hard to get), spille hellig (play holy). All use the verb the way English uses “act,” but with a sharper accusing edge. Danes deploy them in conflict scenes the way Americans use sarcasm.
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Danish drama series on DR (Borgen, Forbrydelsen, Bedrag) where confrontations turn moralistic
- ▸In Danish family arguments when someone is being preachy
- ▸In Danish workplace conflict around perceived hypocrisy
- ▸In Danish social-media threads calling out performative outrage
- ▸In Danish standup mocking holier-than-thou behaviour