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DANISH LANGUAGE

Olympic-level swearing: Why do Danes drop the F-bomb so often?

"Fuck, det er så fedt, meaning literally, "Fuck, it's so cool", was the first reaction of Danish sailor Anne-Marie Rindom when she took Denmark's first Olympic gold at Tokyo. We asked Rasmus Nielsen, a socio-linguist from the University of Southern Denmark, what's going on with Denmark and the F-bomb.

Published: 2 August 2021 14:50 CEST
Updated: 8 August 2021 17:56 CEST
Olympic-level swearing: Why do Danes drop the F-bomb so often?

For newcomers to Denmark from the English-speaking world, it may have come as a shock that a country’s leading Olympic performer would use the word “fuck” so lightly in an interview with the country’s state broadcaster. 

It might be even more surprising that the state broadcaster would then use the quote in its headline for the biggest story of the day. 

But as anyone who has spent time in the country will know, the word “fuck” crops up in spoken and written Danish in contexts that seem wildly out of place for English speakers. 

“The way she used the word is as a marker of joy. It’s not even used as a swear word, she’s just expressing happiness,” Nielsen, an associate professor at the university, told The Local. “Clearly, it doesn’t have the same semantic content as it does in English.”

Whereas the word “fuck” is used in English only in informal settings, in Danish it can be used in almost any context, he explained. 

“There are no domains in Denmark where you can’t use it. If it can sneak into an article where an athlete celebrates her gold medal, you can use it everywhere. But in a native English-speaking context, there are certain definitely areas where it’s not appropriate.” 

Nielsen himself said that he often got into trouble when he studied at a high school in the US for using the word “very liberally, as we as we do in Denmark”. 

“In the US, so long as you’re backstage and not at a formal event, then the word pops out all the time. It’s used, especially by younger people in all sorts of informal contexts. But there’s definitely a certain domain of usage where you won’t find it at all.”

READ ALSO: The absolute worst words in the Danish language

Even the quality media, such as DR, Politiken or Berlingske, frequently use the word “fuck” in headlines, particularly the phrase få en fuckfinger, meaning “get the middle finger”, which is used frequently when a politician’s proposal or candidacy is rejected. See here, here, or here. 

According to Nielsen, the word “fuck” has gained a steadily greater role in written and spoken Danish since the end of the Second World War and particularly since about 1990, edging out other Danish swear words such as fanden (“the devil”), or for helvede (“for hell”).  

“It’s pushed out basically every single other old Danish swear word. It’s just ‘fuck’ before everything now,” he said. “Most of the old swear words are basically gone.” 

The word can be used extremely flexibly in Danish, as it can be in English, cropping up as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, or in phrasal verbs, such as “fuckup”, which generally follow the same pattern as in English. 

Normally, when using the word, Danes give little thought to the fact that it might be offensive.

Rindom on Sunday was, however, a rare exception to this. 

“I’m sorry, I’m swearing,” she apologised. 

Member comments

  1. Without splitting hairs, but coming from a native English speaker, I would have thought that ´´fuckup´´ as one word is only a noun. As a verb, and a separable phrasal one at that, it would be two words. I wonder if Princess Mary uses it?

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DANISH LANGUAGE

11 very useful Danish words that are very difficult to translate

Some words in the Danish language are incredibly commonplace but do not have a 1:1 equivalent in English.

Published: 29 March 2023 16:40 CEST
11 very useful Danish words that are very difficult to translate

Altså

This is a useful filler-word which can be used to mean “accordingly”, “thus”, “therefore”, “indeed” or “I mean”, but doesn’t exactly match any of them.

It is, however, also a much more articulate alternative to saying ”err”, which is how it often fits into sentences.

If you’re familiar with the German word also (which is not the same as “also” in English), altså will feel a bit more recognisable. The Danish word is formed of two adverbs: alt (everything) and så from således (“like this” or “in this way”).

Sådan

Translated as “such”, sådan is related to således (see above) and can be used in many ways, including as a filler-word, to mean “there we go”, “like that”, “in this way”. It can also be used when you have finished something, to mean “done.”

You may hear it used as an exclamation to praise someone: Sådan, mand! means something akin to “way to go, man!”

Jo 

Pronounced ‘yo’, it means yes, but can only be used in response to a negative question or statement.

Examples where it would be used to mean “yes” (rather than the normal Danish word, ja):

Tog du ikke opvasken i aftes? — Jo, det gjorde jeg inden jeg gik i seng.
Did you not wash the dishes last night? – Yes, I did it just before I went to bed.

Du tog altså ikke opvasken i går. — Altså, jo, det gjorde jeg.
You didn’t even wash the dishes last night. – Er, yes I did.

Jo can also be used in the middle of a sentence to add emphasis. This use is near-impossible to translate and will often be omitted in the English version of a sentence, with context hopefully filling in to add some natural emphasis.

Pyt

This is a very satisfying word to say and is used as an interjection after a mistake or frustration. The closest English translation is “never mind”, “don’t worry”, “stuff happens”. But pyt also comes with a positivity, to express that you accept a situation is out of your control and there’s no need getting worked up about it.

Pyt is also used to comfort other people and diffuse situations. In 2018 it was chosen as Denmark’s favourite word.

Variations with the same meaning include pyt med det, pyt skidt and tage pyt-hatten på.

READ ALSO: The seven stages of learning Danish every foreigner goes through

Orke, gide

These two verbs are used to express the same thing; that you can’t be bothered to do something or that you don’t have the strength for it.

Jeg gider ikke tage opvasken (“I don’t feel like doing/can’t be bothered to wash the dishes”) is a phrase you might hear someone say at the end of a tiring day.

Orke is a slightly stronger version of gide. Commonly heard in the phrasing: “Jeg orker det simpelthen ikke” (I simply can’t be bothered).

It’s common to hear children say gider ikke in formulations like det gider jeg ikke, which would be the equivalent to “I don’t want to” in response to being asked to do a chore.

On the flip side, you can also gide godt when you are keen to partake in something. Skal vi ses til et glas vin på fredag? – Ja, det gider jeg godt (“Shall we meet for a glass of wine on Friday? – Yes, I’d like that”).

Træls

Træls belongs to local dialects in Jutland, although it’s also very common to hear it in Copenhagen. It is used to describe something annoying, tiresome, exasperating, inconvenient or just plain boring.

Jeg fik en bøde på 600kr fordi min baglygte var gået ud. — Ej hvor træls.
I’ve been fined 600 kroner by because my rear bicycle light wasn’t working. – Oh, how annoying.

Fælles 

Can be variously translated to shared, joint, common or together. But it also encompasses a feeling and concept of community and togetherness that is hard to describe in English.

It can be used in many variations, such as fællesskab, which means community, fælleshave, a “community garden”, and fællesspisning, an initiative to eat together as a community. This is becoming increasingly popular in Danish cities, as a way to bring people together, where the food is made en masse, served at the same time and is a chance for people to connect over food.

Miljø

The literal translation of miljø, like the French milieu is “environment”, referring to the planet and green issues. But it can also be used when talking about different types of social circles and hobbies.

Studentermiljøet is used to describe the social aspect of student life. Venstreorienterede miljøer is “left-wing social circles” or “left-wing communities”. For hobbies, it can describe enthusiasts of most things: bilentusiaster (car enthusiasts) are part of the bilentusiast-miljø or “car enthusiast community”.

It is also used in arbejdsmiljø, (“work environment”), which relates to both the physical and mental affects of a workplace on its staff.

Overblik

A blik is a glance, view or momentary image of something, as the word øjeblik, literally “blink of the eye” but meaning “moment”, attests.

If you have an overblik over something, you have a view “over the top” of it or, more accurately described, a clear view of the whole thing. How this is used depends on context but usually it means something like “understand what is going on”.

Politiet har ikke flere kommentarer, indtil det har det fulde overblik over situationen.

The police has no further comments until it has a full picture of the situation.

Udgangspunkt

While udgang means “way out” or “exit” and punkt is “point”, udgangspunkt is often translated to “point of departure”, but this term feels a bit awkward in English. It also seems a bit inaccurate given that “departure” in Danish is not udgang, but afgang. Confusing prefixes lead the way here.

When you hear someone say som udgangspunkt, i udgangspunktet or vores udgangspunkt er, what they are telling you is that they have adopted a given initial stance or position on an issue and that will be their default approach unless they are given good reason to change it.

Regeringens udgangspunkt er at vi skal skære i de offentlige udgifter.

The government is of the view that we should cut public sector costs.

Hygge

We’re sure you’ve heard the word hundreds of times by now, but we had to include hygge on this list, despite the fact that it is technically now also an English word. Often mistranslated to “cosy” or a feeling of being together with loved ones, there is no direct equivalent English word to hygge.

Hygge is arguably the most translatable word on this list, however. In the vast majority of contexts in which it is used, it simply means “having a nice time”.

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