2010 will soon draw to a close and by the end of every year, Svenska språkrådet (The Swedish Language Council) puts together a list over the new words that have infiltrated the Swedish during the past year. The list normally contains between 40-50 words and it can be anything from new made up words, loan words from other languages and words that haven’t been used for ages but for some reason has had a comeback. So, before we head into 2011, let’s take a quick look at some of the words we learnt and used during 2010:

* App – Short for “application”, a program that are downloaded from internet to your mobile phone.

* Askstoppad –  A verb for being held up by the big ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano with the impossible name. (aska = ash, stoppad = held).

* Askänka (Ash widow) – When your husband were trapped somewhere because of the ash cloud, you became an “askänka”.

* Bloppis – To sell things you no longer want – clothes, shoes bags etc – via your blog. Comes from the word for “jumble sale” in Swedish, which is “loppmarknad”, often referred to as “loppis”. Combine that with the word “blog” and you got a “bloppis”.

* Kaffeflicka (Coffee girl)  – A new term for a girl who is invited to gentlemen parties as “something sweet to go with the coffee”.  This word came from the book “Den ofrivillige monarken” about our king, read more here!

* Köttklister  (Meat glue) – A substance made out of animal blood to glue together smaller pieces of meat to make it look like something nice and tasty.

* Plånboksbröllop (wallet wedding) – A budget wedding to suit your means.

* Wikiläcka (Wiki leak) – When secret information leaked to the public via the webpage Wikileak.

* Vuvuzela – a long plastic horn that we became very familiar with during the World Cup in South Africa. It comes from an expression in Zulu meaning make lots of noise.

Find the whole list of new words in the Swedish language here!