Dear, Language Council
When we began working on the Oslofjord issue, many questions quickly arose. One of them was whether one should simply assess the meaning of the well-known expression: "be like a fish in water" taking the status of the fjord into account.
We had to get to the bottom of this (sorry for the fjord game) and therefore sent a request about this to the Language Council.
The response from the Language Council concluded that the expression will still stand – despite the fact that the fish in the Oslo Fjord are doing as they are. They respond that language can be quite conservative. That many formulations are left over in conditions that no longer exist. Some still hang up the phone and pull the string. It is therefore quite natural to use the expression “have it like a fish in the water” as before, regardless of the water quality. Moreover, most people understand the expression to mean that it is about water as opposed to other elements. That is correctly understood. Water is best, after all.
It might seem easier to fix the Oslofjord (so that the expression is 100% correct) than to change the expression itself. Besides, it could be nice in several ways.
Well, then the question is raised and we continue to use our curiosity and brainpower on other things.
