/aʊ̯f deːɐ̯ ˈfaʊ̯lən haʊ̯t ˈliːɡn̩/ lit. ‘lie on the lazy skin’
German idiom, colloquial. To be very lazy and avoid work.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Auf der faulen Haut liegen
?
Colloquial, and usually a complaint about someone else: “Ich arbeite und du liegst auf der faulen Haut!” You can say it about yourself on vacation, when lazing about is the whole point. “Sich auf die faule Haut legen” is the version for starting to laze, and the perfect is “hat auf der faulen Haut gelegen” (or “ist ... gelegen” in the south).
Also said sich auf die faule Haut legen
Auf der faulen Haut liegen
in real sentences
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Sie hat viele Stunden in der Hängematte auf der faulen Haut gelegen.
She idled away many hours lying in the hammock.
Tatoeba, sentence by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Tom will gar keine Arbeit finden, sondern nur den ganzen Tag zu Hause auf der faulen Haut liegen.
Tom doesn’t want to find work at all, he just wants to lie around at home all day doing nothing.
Tatoeba, sentence by Pfirsichbaeumchen, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Auf der faulen Haut liegen
come from?
Haut (skin) here stands for the whole person, the way German says “eine ehrliche Haut” for an honest soul, so the lazy skin is you. German Wiktionary gives no date for this exact form. Its cousin “auf der Bärenhaut liegen” is recorded in 1744 and is often linked to the old picture of Germanic warriors lounging on bearskins between battles.
Mistakes learners make with Auf der faulen Haut liegen
Mixing the cases: you lie on it (“auf der faulen Haut liegen”, dative) but you lie down onto it (“sich auf die faule Haut legen”, accusative). “Auf die faule Haut liegen” is wrong.
Other German idioms like Auf der faulen Haut liegen
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