something is rotten in the state of Denmark

English

Alternative forms

• something is rotten in Denmark
• there is something rotten in the state of Denmark (common misquotation)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Phrase

something is rotten in the state of Denmark

1. (idiomatic) Something is not right, seriously amiss, especially when leading to suspicion of motive.

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

   • [c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], signature C3, verso:

     Something is rotten in the ſtate of Denmarke.]

   • 1992 November 18, Lord Mackie of Benshie, “World Food Situation”, in parliamentary debates (Lords Chamber)‎, volume 540, column 661:

     If divided roughly, two-thirds of them work in desk jobs while one-third are involved in field work. When one gets that sort of proportion one begins to think, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”.

   • 2016, Robin Morgan, editor, Sisterhood Is Global […] , Open Road Media, →ISBN:

     My belief that something is rotten in the State of Denmark is bred by recent developments, both political and cultural. I feel that the feminist movement is now more on the defensive than the offensive, […]

Translations

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

Bulgarian: има нещо гнило в Дания (ima nešto gnilo v Danija) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: je cosi shnilého ve státě dánském (cs), je něco shnilého ve státě dánském Danish: der er noget råddent i Danmarks rige Esperanto: malbona io estas en Danujo Finnish: on jotain mätää Tanskanmaalla French: il y a quelque chose de pourri au royaume du Danemark (fr) Galician: haber gato en fol (literally “to have/to be a cat inside a bag”), algo cheira a podre en Dinamarca (literally “something smells to rotten in Denmark”) German: etwas ist faul im Staate Dänemark (de) Greek: κάτι σάπιο υπάρχει στο βασίλειο της Δανιμαρκίας (káti sápio ypárchei sto vasíleio tis Danimarkías) Hebrew: משהו רקוב בממלכת דנמרק Hungarian: valami bűzlik Dániában Italian: c'è del marcio nel regno di Danimarca, c'è del marcio in Danimarca Norwegian: det er noe råttent i kongeriket Danmark Polish: źle się dzieje w państwie duńskim (pl) Portuguese: há algo de podre no reino da Dinamarca Romanian: ceva e putred în Danemarca Russian: нела́дно что́-то в да́тском короле́встве (neládno štó-to v dátskom korolévstve) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: има нешто труло у држави Данској Roman: ima nešto trulo u državi Danskoj, nešto je trulo u državi Danskoj Spanish: algo está podrido en el estado de Dinamarca, algo huele a podrido en Dinamarca Swedish: något är ruttet i konungariket Danmark, något är ruttet, i danska staten någonting är ruttet Turkish: çürümüş bir şeyler var şu Danimarka krallığında