/aʊ̯f diː ˈlaŋə baŋk ˈʃiːbm̩/ lit. ‘to push onto the long bench’
German idiom, everyday. To keep putting something off instead of dealing with it.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Auf die lange Bank schieben
?
Everyday German for procrastinating, used about tax returns, decisions and dentist appointments alike. The thing you put off goes in the accusative: “Er schiebt die Steuererklärung auf die lange Bank.” It’s often a warning: “Schieb das nicht auf die lange Bank!”
Also said etwas auf die lange Bank schieben
Auf die lange Bank schieben
in real sentences
-
Er hat es auf die lange Bank geschoben.
He postponed it to the Greek calends.
Tatoeba, sentence by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation by Bernie75, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
Es lohnt sich nicht, die Entscheidung auf die lange Bank zu schieben.
It won’t pay to put off making the decision.
Tatoeba, sentence by freddy1, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Auf die lange Bank schieben
come from?
The Duden idiom dictionary traces it to old courts and offices, where case files waiting to be handled were stacked on long benches, and a file pushed to the end of the bench could wait for years. Grimm’s dictionary already records the phrase, so it is several centuries old. The office-bench story is the standard explanation, though no single first use has been found.
Mistakes learners make with Auf die lange Bank schieben
Using “Sofa” or “Stuhl” or dropping “lange”: the bench has to be long, and it’s “schieben” (push), not “legen” (lay).
Other German idioms like Auf die lange Bank schieben
Spot a mistake in Auf die lange Bank schieben
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.