something is rotten in the state of Denmark

English

Etymology

A line spoken by Marcellus in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act I.

Phrase

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

1. Something is not right, rife with errors from top to bottom, leading to suspicion of motive.

   If the administration knew about the problems and chose not to prevent them, then clearly something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Translations

Hamlet quotation, used in other contexts to mean "something is not right."

• Danish: der er noget råddent i Danmark
• Finnish: on jotain mätää Tanskanmaalla
• French: il y a quelque chose de pourri dans l'empire du Danemark
• German: etwas ist faul im Staate Dänemark (de)
• Hebrew: משהו רקוב בממלכת דנמרק
• Hungarian: valami bűzlik Dániában
• Italian: c'e' del marcio in Danimarca
• Norwegian: det er noe råttent i kongeriket Danmark

• Polish: źle się dzieje w państwie duńskim (pl)
• Russian: Неладно что-то в датском королевстве (Neladno chto-to v datskom korolevstve)
• Serbo-Croatian: има нешто труло у држави Данској (ima nešto trulo u državi Danskoj)
• Spanish: algo está podrido en el estado de Dinamarca
• Swedish: något är ruttet i konungariket Danmark, något är ruttet