I love linguistic crossover words and phrases with different meanings! I remember my high school German class when our rather jaded teacher was ready to teach a room full of adolescents how to conjugate the verb fahren. He told us to go ahead and get the guffaws and belly laughs out of the way so we could continue our lesson. He was right.

When visiting Denmark, I’ll take the stairs. I do wonder if those elevators go both to the basement and the top floor. Just don’t ever hit the down button.

I remember being amused by the services that the Norwegian Railways offered.

We encountered "Gods transport" and assumed that, while Norway was forcibly moved over to Christianity a long time ago the old Norse Gods must still be there, lurking in the background and still needing to go places.

Like grumpy employees that have been moved sideways to roles that cause the business less damage, in charge of time and motion studies or health and safety audits.

#norge #norsegods

I also have to admit that although I am fluent in Norwegian, having lived here for more than a decade and can read Danish and Swedish, most spoken Danish is still incomprehensible to me.

I have speak to Danes in English.

youtu.be/ykj3Kpm3O0g

mastodon.social/@randahl/11618…
Clear as butter. 'Yag ni taler Danske'.

Randahl Fink

2026-03-07 05:41:03

Examples that Danish is the most confusing language for English speakers:

In Denmark, when washing machines are done, their displays write, "Slut!", which means "Finished".

When someone enters an elevator, the display changes to "I fart", which means "On the move".

Tourists have difficulty finding a nice WC, because the signs often say "Bad toilet", meaning "Bathroom and toilet".

In lobbies with multiple elevators, one sign may say, "Gods elevator", which means "Freight elevator".

#offtopic