In Dutch, we have a saying 'Een toontje lager zingen' which basically means that the person should sing a bit lower, a.k.a "take it down a notch" or "put someone in his place".

An example would be the following:

John is being pretty arrogant and offensive. He's stating things he doesn't know anything about, but pretends he does. He's talking down to other people, etc.

Then someone else comes in and burns him pretty good. Not by being mean, but by correcting him with actual true statements, where he was wrong.

Now this person put him in his place and made John 'een toontje lager laten zingen', a.k.a. sing a bit lower.

Is there an equivalent phrase or idiom to this in English? Or is it exactly "take it down a notch"?

In Dutch, we have a saying 'Een toontje lager zingen' which basically means that the person should sing a bit lower, a.k.a "take it down a notch" or "put someone in his place".

Sing a bit lower is an almost literal translation from dutch. The phrase doesn't have to do anything with singing.

An example would go like this:

John is being pretty arrogant and offensive. He's stating things he doesn't know anything about, but pretends he does. He's talking down to other people, etc.

Then someone else comes in and burns him pretty good. Not by being mean, but by correcting him with actual true statements, where he was wrong.

Now this person put him in his place and made John 'een toontje lager laten zingen', a.k.a. sing a bit lower.

Is there an equivalent phrase or idiom to this in English? Or is it exactly "take it down a notch"?

In Dutch, we have a saying 'Een toontje lager zingen' which basically means that the person should sing a bit lower, a.k.a "take it down a notch" or "put someone in his place".

An example would be the following:

John is being pretty arrogant and offensive. He's stating things he doesn't know anything about, but pretends he does. He's talking down to other people, etc.

Then someone else comes in and burns him pretty good. Not by being mean, but by correcting him with actual true statements, where he was wrong.

Now this person put him in his place and made John 'een toontje lager laten zingen', a.k.a. sing a bit lower.

Is there an equivalent phrase or idiom to this in English? Or is it exactly "take it down a notch"?

In Dutch, we have a saying 'Een toontje lager zingen' which basically means that the person should sing a bit lower, a.k.a "take it down a notch" or "put someone in his place".

An example would be the following:

John is being pretty arrogant and offensive. He's stating things he doesn't know anything about, but pretends he does. He's talking down to other people, etc.

Then someone else comes in and burns him pretty good. Not by being mean, but by correcting him with actual true statements, where he was wrong.

Now this person put him in his place and made John 'een toontje lager laten zingen', a.k.a. sing a bit lower.

Is there an equivalent phrase or idiom to this in English? Or is it exactly "take it down a notch"?