whistle past the graveyard

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

whistle past the graveyard (third-person singular simple present whistles past the graveyard, present participle whistling past the graveyard, simple past and past participle whistled past the graveyard)

1. (idiomatic, US) To attempt to stay cheerful in a dire situation; to proceed with a task, ignoring an upcoming hazard, hoping for a good outcome.
2. (idiomatic, US) To enter a situation with little or no understanding of the possible consequences.

Translations

to try to be cheerful in the face of one's fears

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 对着墓地吹口哨，指在害怕时故作轻松

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pitää päänsä pystyssä
• French: regarder ailleurs (fr)
• German: (semantically close, but less idiomatic) der Angst ins Gesicht lachen (literally “to laugh into the face of fear”), die Angst weglachen (literally “to laugh away one’s fear”); (more idiomatic, but usually referring to emotions other than fear) zweckoptimistisch sein (literally “to be practically optimistic”), gute Mine zum bösen Spiel machen (literally “to keep a good face during the evil play”)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: far buon viso a cattivo gioco
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 두려우면서도 두렵지 않은것처럼 행동한다 (duryeoumyeonseodo duryeopji aneun'geotcheoreom haengdonghanda)
• Polish: robić dobrą minę do złej gry (pl) impf
• Portuguese: manter as esperanças
• Russian: мо́ре по коле́но (ru) (móre po koléno)
• Spanish: poner buena cara
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

to ignore a bad situation

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: կրակի հետ խաղալ (hy) (kraki het xaġal)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 对着墓地吹口哨，指对恶劣的情况视而不见

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: lähteä soitellen sotaan
• French: arriver comme une fleur (fr)
• German: blauäugig sein
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: игра́ть с огнём (igrátʹ s ognjóm)
• Spanish: hacerse el tonto, hacerse el sonzo
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• whistle Dixie
• whistle down the wind
• whistle in the dark
• whistle in the wind