jemanden zur Schnecke machen
to give someone a severe dressing-down, humiliating them
Origin
Origin not certain: probably from the image of the scolded person withdrawing like a snail into its shell; alternatively from military slang, where excessive drill reduced the soldier to crawling 'like a snail' - a symbol of utter humiliation.
Building blocks
Words in this expression
der Fehler· mistakegemacht· mademachen· to donach· afterder Spieler· playerder Trainer· coachvor· beforezur· to the
Grammar that uses this word
- beziehungsweise / bzw. (respectively, or)beziehungsweise (bzw.)
- Counterfactual result clauses („zu … als dass“)Irreale Konsekutivsätze („zu … als dass“)
- Pronoun 'ich' (I, nominative)Pronomen 'ich' (Nominativ)
- Pronoun 'er' (he/it, nominative)Pronomen 'er' (Nominativ)
- Irregular verbs: a → ä (fahren, schlafen)Unregelmäßige Verben: a → ä (fahren, schlafen)
- Question word 'wie' (how, manner)Fragewort 'wie' (Art und Weise)
Examples
Der hat den dem allen Schnecke .
The coach tore a strip off the player in front of everyone after the mistake.