Belgium Travel Forum

There is a belgian saying : 'stinkend rijk'...
I'm looking for the right English translation. Literal translated it means 'smelly rich'.

AND second part of the question does the expression also excist in your language?

Stinking rich is the saying.

In Swedish we don't use it but say "rich like a troll" :-)

I think the phrase that people usually say in English would be 'stinking rich'

Thank you..i just added it to my Antwerp page. I found the origin of this saying quit interesting.

Yes, Stinking Rich is correct, though some people might spell it: Stinkin' rich.

We have a similar expression in England :

"Filthy rich" (Filth means dirt)

Still In my experience it's the peasants who are revolting !

LOL!!

I'm in Malaysia, we say stinking rich, filthy rich, whatever. Like how we say queue up and line up. Weird.. we probably pick up from all the other countries.

I've also heard: dirty, stinking rich.

Then there was the movie: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

But I digress.

:-)

Djeezes this becomes a mucky posting. lol

in French, "riche à craquer" (rich to the point of bursting) lol

Don't we also say :

'...zo rijk als de zee diep is...
or...':-)
'...as rich as the sea can be deep...'

Let us know...

Frank,

do you mean where that saying derives from?
has something to do with being important (=rich) and have a grave in the church. Could be a family grave and when they open it, its smells hahaha
well might not be too accurate but it is close by, am hurting my brains to try to remember how it precisely was.
Do you know another explanation?
Or does any one else have?

yes!!! I was right!
just found it on google :-))
hold on will copy and paste it!
sorry is only in Dutch but I will try to translate it!

Op 26 juni 1784 verbood Keizer Jozef II nog verder iemand in de kerk te begraven. De laatste parochiaan die hier begraven werd was Ignaas Van Goethem op 21 juni 1784.

Tijdens de voorchristelijke periode rustte op de dood een zwaar taboe met strenge gedragsregels. Begraafplaatsen werden strikt gescheiden van de woonplaatsen.

Tijdens de kerstening kreeg de dode een centrale plaats in de gemeente en werd hij in de kerk begraven maar, door de toenemende bevolking kwam er vrij vlug plaatsgebrek.

Het begraven werd uitgebreid naar de gronden rondom de kerk (vandaar ‘kerkhof’)en wie dan nog in de kerk wilde begraven worden moest daarvoor betalen.

Het begraven liet altijd een geur achter in de kerk en aangezien alleen rijke mensen zich nog in de kerk lieten begraven sprak men van ’stinkend rijk’.

thanks to : http://www.deuzie.be/index.htm

translation:
This is specific for the Church at Stekene (East Flanders) but it goes for other churches as well (thanks ot the website of the historical organisation of Stekene)
On 26th of June 1784, the Emperor
Op 26 juni 1784 verbood Keizer Jozef II, prohibited any person to be burried in the church. The last one (In Stekene) was Ignaas Van Goethem, burried on 21st of June 1784.
During the pre-christian period there was a huge taboe on "death" and severe rules around this matter were practiced.
Burrial places were stricktly seperated from populated locations.

During Christianisation, the dead person was offered a more central location in the community and he got burried in the church.
However, due to the growth of the population, soon there was a lack of space in the churches.
The burrial places were moved now to the area surrounding the church.
Kerhof it is called in Flemish, Kerk = Church + Hof = Garden.
The garden of the church became the burrial place.
Who, who insisted to be burried stil l in the church needed to pay a lot of money (LOL the capitalism of the church! Offer and demand!)

Even with a heavy tombstone upon the body, it could not be prevented that it left some odeur hanging around in the church!
ah well a stench :-)
and because only rich people could afford to been burried in churches, we talk now about "beeing stinking rich".

I guess I was near this explanation :-)