At the dentist

One phrase on this list has left the surgery: jemandem auf den Zahn fühlen. Word for word it is to feel somebody’s tooth, and a learner who meets it in a newspaper will go looking for a dentist in the story. There is none. The phrase means to put somebody to the test, to find out what they really know or intend by asking the questions they would rather avoid. An examiner does it to a candidate, a journalist to a minister, a bank to a founder who wants a loan: Die Prüferin hat ihm gründlich auf den Zahn gefühlt. It is firmer than a friendly enquiry and less hostile than a grilling. Two things are fixed. The person takes the dative, jemandem, never jemanden, and the tooth stays singular, den Zahn, however many questions are asked. Its neighbour on the list, die Zähne zusammenbeißen, needs no such warning: it is to grit your teeth.