The Danes are a pretty reserved bunch – they don’t raise their voices in
public or wave their hands about when they’re speaking. A very well-mannered
bunch. The exception to the rule being certain gymnasieelever (high
school kids) who love to binge drink, fight amongst themselves and smash hotels
– whether they are on winter break in Prague, the Czech Republic or
summer hols in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria… 
But, as usual, I digress! Have you ever thrown a party/had guests over
to dinner? Bam! Before you can open your eyes the next morning or take your
first swig of coffee, text messages and mails will be ticking in saying “Tak
for sidst!”
So although the Danes don’t gush in public, they’re quite happy gushing via
emails and on social media platforms from the relative safety of their
tablets/telephones/computers. I’ve done a lot of volunteer work in my time
– committees at børnehave (nursery) and teaching English at school –
here’s a little taster of the kind of messages I’ve received…
- “Mange tak for indsatsen!” (Thanks for your hard work!)
- “Godt initiativ!” (What a great initiative!)
- “Du er fantastisk!” (You’re fantastic!)
- “Du er en gave!” (You’re a gift!)
- “Du er en skat!” (You’re a dear!)
- “Du er som altid et hit!” (You’re always a hit!)
I’ve also been called things that I had to go look up in the dictionary!
Or have my husband explain Like when someone told me ”Du er en
knag!” Which I thought had something to do with a hook… (But, hooray,
hooray, I was getting en knag mixed up with en knage.) Anyway, hubby said it was a
real compliment. According to Politikens Store Nye Nu Dansk
dictionary, en knag is “a person you appreciate because they are
helpful, energetic or skilful”. Ha! Do we have an equivalent in English?
Hmm, I can only come up with a “jolly good fellow”!
And on that positive note, I wish you all – my merry readers – a
god weekend. And – if it’s anything like it was down at the beach
this morning (air temp -1c/30f , water temp 0c/30f) – i solens tegn (in
the sign of the sun)!
Lovely morning for a swim!
Diane 