Swedish: Smaka på käppen

T

Twist-ful

Senior Member
English
Good evening,

I’m struggling to understand the following sentence, especially “smaka på käppen”, which I wonder is an expression.

För ett par månader sen råkade han ut för en bilolycka. Jag har inte sett honom på flera veckor, men hans fru lär smaka på käppen så snart hon påminner honom on omständigheterna kring olyckan: ett litet snedsprång med granans dotter.

My attempt:

A couple of months ago he was involved in a car accident. I haven’t seen him for several weeks, but it seems like his wife (is having a rough time???) as soon as/when ?? she reminds him of the circumstances of the accident: a fling with the neighbour’s daughter.
 
    • But figuratively I imagine, like “they say it was like she’d received a beating as soon as she reminded him of the circumstances behind the accident.

    I mean, it’s not that the man actually beats up his wife, but that the wife feels as if she’s been beaten up because of the news of the affair. Is that how you understand it?
     
    From where is the sentence? As it stand, without any other knowledge, I would understand it as being literal, he hits his wife when she reminds him about the accident. The "smaka på käppen" might be figuratively, unless he needs a crutch or a cane to walk with, and he hits her with that, rather than with his hand.
     
    Yeah I think you'd need to look at the context to figure out if it's literal or figurative. Certainly I haven't really heard it used much figuratively.
     
    So I'm struggling with the same sentence. It's from that sexist/misogynist book: ASSIMIL Débutants & faux débutants Le suédois - Svenska.
    Please, tell me it's figurative!?
     
    If the book is sexist and misogynist then why assume it was figurative rather than literal?

    Like I said, I don't think I've ever heard anyone use that phrase figuratively.
     
    You've got it the wrong way round.
    The literal meaning of smaka på käppen is 'to taste the stick'.
    The figurative meaning of the expression is to be caned, as mentioned in #2 and #3.

    I think we can safely exclude the literal meaning (there is no tasting involved) so we are left with the figurative one. Whether an actual stick/cane or another object is being used for the figurative meaning is probably of lesser importance, but that is unsurprising precisely because it is figurative.
     
    myšlenka said:
    You've got it the wrong way round.
    The literal meaning of smaka på käppen is 'to taste the stick'.
    The figurative meaning of the expression is to be caned, as mentioned in #2 and #3.

    I think we can safely exclude the literal meaning (there is no tasting involved) so we are left with the figurative one. Whether an actual stick/cane or another object is being used for the figurative meaning is probably of lesser importance, but that is unsurprising precisely because it is figurative.
    Click to expand...

    Sorry about the confusion. By "literal" I meant what the idiom means, not literally tasting a cane or stick. I thought that was obvious by following the actual conversation we had. The actual "figurative" meaning proposed was as follows:

    Twist-ful said:
    But figuratively I imagine, like “they say it was like she’d received a beating as soon as she reminded him of the circumstances behind the accident.

    I mean, it’s not that the man actually beats up his wife, but that the wife feels as if she’s been beaten up because of the news of the affair. Is that how you understand it?
    Click to expand...

    Clear now?
     
    I think that in the beginning both the "smaka på riset" (taste the birching rod) and "smaka på käppen" very likely were figurative, that the child/person who had been caned had to kiss the rod/cane after the punishment, as a sign of obedience, although not in the question in this thread.
    The expression "smaka på käppen" makes me remember the film "Hets" and the character "Caligula" and the pointing stick he used, Hets – Wikipedia The film is worth seeing.
     
    MattiasNYC said:
    Sorry about the confusion. By "literal" I meant what the idiom means, not literally tasting a cane or stick. I thought that was obvious by following the actual conversation we had. The actual "figurative" meaning proposed was as follows:



    Clear now?
    Click to expand...
    Yes, it was clear from the beginning. However, the confusion seems to be the reason why you (plural) ended up discussing the potential figurative meaning of a reading that is already figurative. I don't think double abstraction is a common (or even possible) semantic strategy in language.
     
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