"It is neither fish nor fowl."

Translation: Det er verken fugl eller fisk.

[Erven.R]

Is it really interchanged? Or is it just an error?

[anachron]

It is a fixed expression. Switching them around (“Det er verken fisk eller fugl”) is fine, but it is most common to use it as written above.

[Erven.R]

Tusen takk! I've never heard this expression since I'm not a native English speaker and I'm still very young. :D

[Krump94]

It's interesting to see this is swapped, and also how "frem og tilbake" is swapped from the English saying. I think the message would get across if it was reversed in either language though.

[Flowerstar4956]

I have NEVER heard tilbake og frem only frem og tilbake

[alek_d]

It's a metaphor, that something is neither this nor that.

[Erven.R]

Tusen takk! Now I get it.

[Fenny-The-Pooh]

I still find it strange that fish is fugl en bird is fisk! Haha... :-/

[Ondtogviltonsket]

Is Hverken used somewhere in norway ?

[Deliciae]

It's a spelling variation of "verken".

They both see frequent use, and you can choose to use either, as long as you're consistent about it. "Verken" is the newer (introduced in 1959), simpler version, which is likely to keep gaining ground over the next few decades, so the choice is age rather than dialect dependent.

NB: For listening exercises, only "verken" will be accepted - though the two sound identical. This is just a technical limitation.

[Diane216052]

How did you get so smart?

[Jan_D_13]

"Weder Fisch noch Fleisch" (verken fisk eller kjøtt) in German. :)

[Giorgio182480]

I only ever heard "weder Fisch noch Vogel"

[Giorgio182480]

... which seems to be the Swiss variant, according to a quick Google search.

[Jan_D_13]

I learned something new today. :)

[OlegMogytych]

In Ukraine we say "Neither fish not meat"

[Athalawulfaz]

While a fixed expression, it's good to see fowl used here - especially to teach people the cognates of fowl/fugl/Vogel etc.

[Evanprynd]

I'm curious about the history of this set expression. I want to know why they decided to switch words around...