Danes reject sale and floor but still use fuck and nice

More than 2,300 Danes have told the Danish Language Council which English words they are tired of seeing in Danish and which ones they use themselves anyway, DR reports.

The respondents said people should party on the dansegulv, or dance floor, rather than the floor. They also admitted using nice even though they do not consider the word particularly pleasant.

The English word sale topped the list of terms respondents wanted to remove. It was also the word most people said had a good Danish alternative: udsalg, meaning sale. Some respondents noted that sale is difficult to inflect in Danish.

The title CEO was considered the most difficult English loanword to understand, while AI was considered the hardest to read and pronounce.

The survey was not representative, but it included responses from people across Denmark and from all age groups between 14 and 93.

Kasper Lind-Hansen Kristjansson, a linguist and project manager at the Danish Language Council, said respondents mainly objected to English words when a Danish word already covered the same meaning. Almost as many said they could do without a word simply because it was not Danish.

The council also asked which English words respondents used themselves. Fuck came first, followed by AI, random, nice and computer.

Kristjansson said English terms can sometimes carry a meaning that is not identical to the Danish equivalent. English is also unavoidable in areas such as information technology, where international terminology is widely used.

Young people likewise encounter English naturally through digital platforms where English is the main language, he said.

The Danish Language Council is continuing its work on Danish alternatives to English loanwords. DR’s programme På dansk is carrying out a similar exercise, with a panel replacing English words with Danish equivalents or inventing new expressions.