
Today's Brueghel proverb.
Met het hoofd tegen de muur lopen.
Met het hoofd tegen de muur lopen. — Literally: to walk with one's head against the wall.
Meaning: to attempt the impossible, and to keep attempting it. English has the same picture in banging your head against a brick wall. Notice that the fixed phrase uses the plain article - het hoofd - where English insists on a possessive. When you step outside the fixed phrase, Dutch takes the possessive back.
Ik loop al maanden met mijn hoofd tegen de muur. — I've been banging my head against the wall for months.
Fijne dag nog!
Download anki.tsv and import into Anki (File → Import). Tab-separated Front/Back/Tags.