whistle past the graveyard

English[edit]

whistle past the graveyard (third-person singular simple present whistles past the graveyard, present participle whistling past the graveyard, simple past and past participle whistled past the graveyard)

(idiomatic, US) To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
(idiomatic, US) To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.

to try to be cheerful in the face of one's fears

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 对着墓地吹口哨，指在害怕时故作轻松
Czech: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: pitää päänsä pystyssä
French: regarder ailleurs (fr)
German: (semantically close, but less idiomatic) der Angst ins Gesicht lachen (literally “to laugh into the face of fear”), die Angst weglachen (literally “to laugh away one’s fear”); (more idiomatic, but usually referring to emotions other than fear) zweckoptimistisch sein (literally “to be practically optimistic”), gute Mine zum bösen Spiel machen (literally “to keep a good face during the evil play”)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Italian: far buon viso a cattivo gioco
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Korean: 두려우면서도 두렵지 않은것처럼 행동한다 (duryeoumyeonseodo duryeopji aneun'geotcheoreom haengdonghanda)
Polish: robić dobrą minę do złej gry (pl) impf
Portuguese: manter as esperanças
Russian: мо́ре по коле́но (ru) (móre po koléno)
Spanish: poner buena cara
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to ignore a bad situation