DANES BEWARE

False Friends, Danish English and related problems
(you may want to add to the lists below before I do)

A number of modern Danish words sound English, but they are, in fact,  pseudo-English expressions made up by the Danes themselves:
 

        Homemade (Danish) English          Correct English (mostly British)
 

aircondition	airconditioning
autocoat	car cover
babylift	carrycot
bigshopper (taske og person)	[not found in English]
black horse	dark horse
body shop	[NB (oftest) karosseriværksted]
bodyguide (fitness instruktør)	[not found in English]
boom-in (med drøn på)	[not found in English]
brainstorm	brain storming
butterfly (bundet slips)	bow tie, butterfly tie
cancergrill	tanning bed
case story	case history
choker (i bilen)	carburet(t)or choke
comebacker (genoptage karriere)	[not found in English]
cottoncoat	(proofed) raincoat
covercoat	covert coat
dressman	male model
drop (medicine)	(intravenous) drip, an ID
freestyler	= Walkman (Sony TM)
gamespoiler	spoilsport
grillparty	barbecue, grillout
joykiller	killjoy (hængehovede, lyseslukker)
light-cola	Coca-Cola Light
longjohn (budcykel)	[not found in English]
monkeyclass (i fly)	[not found in English] = "red eye flight"
overhead (en projektor)	= faste udgifter
paperbook	paperback
sixpence (kasket)	cloth cap [NB sixpence = gml. mønt]
slow food (modsat fast food)	[not found in English]
smoking (tøj)	dinner jacket, tuxedo (smoking jacket)
snobbe	to toady, to be snobbish
soft ice	soft serve
speaker (i radio)	announcer [NB speaker = chairman]
speeder (pedal)	accellerator
stationcar	station wagon, estate car
struggler (stræber)	social climber (snob der ønsker mere end karriere)
time manager	[not found in English]
waterplaning	aquaplaning

 

                 Beware of these "cross pairs" of words:
 

English	Danish
bassoon	fagot
trombone	basun
faggot	bøsse
fag	smøg
hang in!	hold fast
hang on	1) hold fast  2) vent et øjeblik
hang out	nudansk: hænge ud
hold on	vent lidt/stands (inden vi går videre)
hold on to (sth/sb)	holde fast i noget/nogen
hold out	hold(e) ud, overleve
hold out for sth	forsinke et forløb for at opnå noget
hold sth out	tilbyde en chance til nogen
eventually	til sidst ("på et tidspunkt")
if possible	eventuelt
consequent	(den/det deraf) følgende
consistent	konsekvent
subsequent	(den/det) senere) følgende

Some words resemble Danish very much, but their meaning is different:
 
 

English	Danish
overbearing	hoven, overlegen

Updated January 2001
Erik Moldrup