The alphabet goes from A to Ö ; there is no W, but after Z we get an Å (oh), an Ä (ay) and finally the Ö (the French euh). That’s in addition to A (ah), E (eh), O (ooh), I (ee), Y (eeh-ye) and U (The French uu). No wonder Swedish sounds the way it does.

There is no word in Swedish for “Please”. You have to get all passive-aggressive and say something like “Can I have that, thanks.”

[Wed, Oct 02 2002 – 14:28] Felix (www) (email) Talking of passive-agressive languages reminds me of German, where the standard response to “danke” (thank you) is “bitte” (in this context, “you’re welcome”). What happens is that you’ll be having a conversation at a restaurant, and the waitress will set down your plate with a “bitte” or “bitteschoen”, immediately making you feel guilty that you didn’t “danke” her (and, of course, now, it’s too late). But my German’s not that good, so this might only apply to me…

[Thu, Oct 03 2002 – 08:53] Mathew (www) (email) i think “bitte” doubles as “here-you-go,” as in, “take seven weeks of vacation and work 30 hours a week, bitte.”

[Thu, Oct 03 2002 – 09:34] eurof (email) matthew is right. don’t get yer knickers in a twist, the german nation is not out to be passive-aggressively sarcastic at you for your apparent lack of politeness. while i love those goofy germans dearly, one has to admit that they are not necessarily the most sarcastic people in europe