{"id":1397,"date":"2016-05-19T13:20:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-19T13:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2016-05-19T13:20:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T13:20:52","slug":"oops-the-danish-irony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2016\/05\/19\/oops-the-danish-irony\/","title":{"rendered":"Oops! The Danish Irony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(\u201dOh<\/a>

(\u201dOh the irony back home in #denmark\u201d, courtesy of Sakena at Flickr<\/a>, CC License.)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201dDet var bare mega fedt!<\/b>\u201d (It was just mega nice!) The guy telling this to his friend had lost his biln\u00f8gler<\/b> (car keys), topping a rather awful day where everything just went wrong. Fortunately, his friend was a Dane accustomed to ironi<\/b> [eeronEEh] (irony). She understood that losing the keys hadn\u2019t been a nice experience at all \u2013 her friend was just taking a jab at the situation. By faking positivity, he distanced himself from the bad day and made it into something they could both relate to in a sjov <\/b>(fun) way.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s ironi<\/b>? Well, basically you say something you don\u2019t actually mean. For a Dane, it\u2019s something totally different from lying, since you always<\/em> expect the others to understand ironien<\/b> and maybe share a little laugh. It\u2019s really an ingrained part of Danish culture and humor<\/b> (humour). In a serious situation, like an ildebrand <\/b>[ILLehbrahn] <\/b>(big fire), Danes do use serious phrases where they say exactly what they mean. In relaxed day-to-day situations, however, the air always has a faint smell of ironi<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Is ironi<\/b> taught at Danish courses? Ironically enough, hardly ever. Foreigners with perfect Danish skills start interacting with Danes \u2013 and boom!<\/i> irony hits, leaving everybody confused. It\u2019s really an in-society thing that maybe takes some time to \u201dget\u201d. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of real-life examples where irony has created misunderstandings between Danes and non-Danes:<\/p>\n

At a meeting about cleaning a students\u2019 dorm:<\/strong><\/em>
\nDanish guy [with ironic intonation]: Well, it\u2019ll be like that, \u2019cause I\u2019m the corridor President!<\/i>
\nRomanian girl [in earnest]: Are you?<\/i><\/p>\n

Me in England, the \u201dmad cow disease\u201d is in the media, and a beef has just fallen from a grill into the grass:<\/strong><\/em>
\nMe [ironically, while picking up the beef with a fork]: Well, I guess it doesn\u2019t make a huge difference anyway\u2026<\/i>
\nEnglish teacher [in earnest, offended]: Thank you\u2026!<\/i><\/p>\n

In the Copenhagen airport, a Danish airport hostess is helping an Asian woman get her boarding card:<\/strong>
\nAsian woman [earnestly]: Thank you, that was so quick!<\/i>
\nDanish woman [ironically and proudly]: Yeah, I\u2019ve got magic fingers!<\/i>
\nAsian woman [completely bewildered]: \u2026<\/p>\n

Have you<\/strong> been the victim of irony? Please tell in the comments section! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

\u201dDet var bare mega fedt!\u201d (It was just mega nice!) The guy telling this to his friend had lost his biln\u00f8gler (car keys), topping a rather awful day where everything just went wrong. Fortunately, his friend was a Dane accustomed to ironi [eeronEEh] (irony). She understood that losing the keys hadn\u2019t been a nice experience…<\/p>\n

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