The Swedish phrase kratta manegen is roughly equivalent to “pave the way” or “set the stage” in English, essentially to make it easier for someone to do something.
You could, for example, use it about some sort of pioneer: hon krattade manegen för kvinnor i politiken (she paved the way for women in politics). It can also be used about something other than an individual: lagen krattade manegen för landets tillväxt (the law paved the way for the country’s growth).
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So, where does the phrase come from? Let’s look at each of the words individually.
Kratta in this phrase is a verb (to rake), from the noun kratta, a rake. The noun manege comes from the French manège, which in turn comes from Italian maneggio.
In French, manège refers to a whole host of horse riding-related things, like the actual art of training and riding horses, a riding school itself, a circus or riding arena, a fairground attraction, like a merry go round or carousel, or some kind of small game.
In Swedish, however, a manege is specifically a riding arena or circus ring, usually filled with sand, which would be raked before being used by riders and performers.
Example sentences:
Hennes misslyckande krattade manegen för hans framgång
Her failure paved the way for his success
Varför har ingen krattat manegen? Föreställningen börjar om tio minuter!
Why has no one raked the circus ring? The show starts in ten minutes!
Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.
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