Oh no, the f word is back!
After four years in Denmark I’d come to a very definite conclusion: Danes swear. A lot. In English. At the most inopportune moments.
Don’t get me wrong. I swear like a trooper. But there’s a time and a place for it. In Denmark, you can be confronted by an English taboo word at any moment. In business meetings, surrounded by families at the Tivoli aquarium, on huge billboard posters. It can be embarrassing - and it nearly always makes me cringe.
(We’ve already written about the topic: check out David’s post on a Danish pop song, or this WordSpin article on a certain alcopop campaign.)
So, one thing I was looking forward to when I moved to Norway was being able to relax without worrying about when the next unsuitable swear word would come out. The Norwegians almost never swear in English. If they do, it’s always to stress a point and never in a business meeting. All was going well. Until I visited Stavanger. There I saw the f word proudly splashed on a shop sign. (I’m not going to show a picture of the sign on this site, but if you want to see it you can.)
The sentiment is similar to this one (also spotted in Stavanger)…
So what is it with the people in Stavanger? Why is it, as soon as you go to the west of Norway, they start getting offensive in the shop windows?
March 29th, 2008 at 10:10 am
When I grew up in New Zealand, there was no shortage of swearing in some circles. And of course every kid makes the mistake of swearing at the wrong time and in the wrong place. But by far most kids learn very fast about when it’s inappropriate to swear. The big difference in Denmark, and probably other non-English speaking countries, is that many people don’t understand where to draw the line.
One of the most shocking expressions I hear used by Danes in the weirdest of places is “mother fxxxer”. (There is no way I’m going to write that word!) It’s used as an adjective in sentences like “That was a ‘terrible’ storm we had last night”, where the word “terrible” would be replaced by the mf word. How did this word sneak into the everyday Danish? Do people have any idea of its vulgarity?
April 1st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Yes, well I also cringe when I hear apparently educated people use the ‘f’ word - even in the middle of quite serious discussions. I remember a Danish TV ad for Jolly Cola ten or so years ago. The storyline was; slim, attractive, Danish girl tries to smuggle Jolly Cola into the home of the brave - the land of Coke (the drink, of course!) and is apprehended by a fat, burger-nourished, heavily perspiring customs officer. He opens her battered leather suitcase (it couldn’t possibly be hi-tech Samsonite, could it,) sees the offending soft drink and exclaims, “What the f**k is this!” End of story. I couldn’t get over it and when I explained my irritation to many Danish friends and colleagues, they just shrugged their shoulders and said, well this is Denmark and we don’t take that kind of thing too seriously. Shades of Mohammed!!
But, it’s the culture isn’t it? As people with English as a mother tongue we realise that, even though Halløjwood abounds in double standards and dudes exclaiming expletives deleted all over the place, there is still a time and a place for everything and prime time viewing, woth your small loved ones gathered round waiting for Bamse and Kylling is not where you should put your f***ing advertising campaign. At last not if you’re going to FCUK in it. Needless to say, I think they got the message - and who drinks Jolly Cola anyway?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 am
It seems to me that you’re saying that native English speakers grasp the register of swear words and so know when and where to use them. I think that’s true. But I also think most other nations grasp it as well. I’ve lived in a few countries and have never experienced people swearing quite as freely as they do in Denmark (apart from the example above).
So, yes, I think it is the culture. But I’m not sure that it can be split as easily as English as a mother tongue versus not English as a mother tongue.
As for the Jolly Cola add…oh my.