When you are learning a new language, I think it’s a known fact that you revert back to the childish behavior that reflects your childish command of the new language. When we first moved here, Robert and I learned the word for hospital – sjukhus – because we always referred to it as what it looked like to us: sick house. I had a childlike glee in saying morgon to certain annoying people as the word is pronounced moron. And prick 8 caused a bit of a laugh in Swedish class: in referring to time, this means 8 sharp or exactly and not what you were thinking it meant.
Of course, visitors from other lands have lots to laugh at as well. When my friend Mary visited from the US, we went out to dinner and the waiter asked us if our food tasted good. Det smaka bra? Mary wanted to know why she was being asked about having Smuckers jam in her bra. Of course, hiss (elevator or lift) is popular for the noise you can make in saying it. And my brother was amused by utfart (exit) for all the reasons you can imagine. Who says learning Swedish is not fun?
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I know what you mean about the childish behavior. I took Swedish in grad school – a class taught by my friend, a Swedish exchange student – and our class went nuts over “fan du” (after begging the instructor to reveal some Swedish curse words). Not having seen the phrase in print at that point – only hearing it pronounced, “fondue” – we practically drove my poor sensitive friend to tears as we chuckled over the thought that people in Sweden curse each other with melted cheese dip.
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