I’m trying to learn Danish. It’s hard work, and slow-going. Some of it is not very interesting. I’ve never really cared for grammar and sentence structure. It may be necessary, but it’s quite dull.
But some of it is fun — especially the things that demonstrate a different way of thinking. Here are some examples of Danish words and what they mean translated literally into English.
Rosenkål (rosen=rose, kål=cabbage -> rose cabbage)
What Americans call brussel sprouts, Danes call rose cabbages. It’s a little strange, but they do sort of look like roses made of cabbage, or tiny little cabbage heads. Brussel sprouts? Now that’s a weird name.
Hvidløg (hvid=white, løg=onion -> white onion)
In Danish, white onion means garlic. To Americans a white onion is… a white onion. Danes call white onions salad onions.
Tebrev (te=tea, brev=letter -> tea letter)
This means tea bag. At first I thought this was bizarre, but a tea bag does look like a little envelope…
Tømmermænd (tømmer=timber, mænd=men -> timber men)
This means both carpenter and hangover. I think the idea is that a hangover is sort of like having a sawing noise in your head.
Smagsløg (Smag=taste, løg=onion -> taste onions)
Taste buds, which, it turns out, actually do look like onions.
Æggestok (æg=egg, stok=cane -> egg cane)
This is an ovary. This one makes sense, as the ovaries do look like canes, and they contain eggs, so yeah, egg cane.
Moderkage (moder=mother, kage=cake -> mother cake)
I just learned this one recently. What an very appetizing way to think about something that is… not appetizing.
Brystvorte (bryst=breast, vorte=wart -> breast wart)
In Danish a nipple is a breast wart. Seriously. It’s amazing that Danes haven’t gone extinct, considering that all the women have breast warts.
Skamlæber (skam=shame, læber=lips -> shame lips, or lips of shame
This one is my favorite: this is the term for vaginal lips. So, in verifying this information for this entry, my Google searches came back with ads for body piercing rings — in this case shame lip rings.
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