The 34 Very Best German Sayings…EVER!
18. den Braten riechen
In English, if you smell a rat, you have started recognizing that something is not as it appears, usually suspecting trickery or deception of some kind.
While ‘to smell a rat’ does not sound all that pleasant, in German, you don’t smell rats but roast when trickery or deception is in the air. Now that’s pretty tasty, given the circumstances…!
Example:
Hast du eigentlich das Gefühl ich bin dumm? Natürlich habe ich schon lange bemerkt, dass du mir fremd gehst! Ich habe den Braten schon lange gerochen! Du machst mir nichts vor!
Translation: Do you think I’m stupid? Of course, I’ve realized long ago that you’re cheating on me! I smelled the roast a long time ago! You don’t fool me!
