It is almost three months now that I am living in Stockholm. Though I do not pretend to know Swedish, I have stumbled upon a few Swedish words which frankly have rendered me speechless.
I did not have to dig hard to look for these words; if you stay in Sweden for a few days, you would definitely encounter them.
I am not a prude by any standard, but the frequent appearance of the words like "Bra", "Sex" or "Slut" in the Swedish subtitels of prime time news or in Disney channel in television gave me a lot of shudder initially till I got their actual meanings in Swedish.
How can some words have so different meanings in two languages as similar as Swedish and English, is something a linguist can answer. However, here is a small list of mine which will potentially save you from the socio-linguistic faux pas in case you ever visit Sweden.
Swedish English
Slut End
Fart Speed
Bra Good
Sex Six
Puss Kiss
Fan Fuck
Kiss Pee
Fack Trade
Bad Bath
Glass Ice cream
6 comments:
Ah...thats a good one.....I'm sure the list can be longer...
Interesting list :) By any chance, did you find something like this between English and French?
By the way, why don't you add a list vice versa. So that we the non-Swedish may refrain from the use of a quite harmless English word bearing good sense in common though opposite in Swedish. Imagine the situation when I lip a "Good Morning" to a Swedish gentleman and he ears it "Fuck You".
By the way Mr. Pyancha (or may be Ms. Pyancha)why don't you put the Swedish terms of them which you put in the 'English' column.
@ Debjani
Would have loved to do this. But do not know enough French. May be you can try ?
@SomeFan
I'll add the opposite list when I have enogh Swedish knowledge....it'll take a while
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