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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Myrepatter

If you want to describe the sensation of a tingle down your spine or are feeling unseasonably cold, you'll be needing today's word of the day.

What are myrepatter?

Myre is the Danish word for ants. 

Patter needs a slightly longer explanation. While its original meaning is the nipple on animals’ udders, it has also become a (now outdated and politically incorrect) slang term for breasts. It’s also worth noting that the Danish word for mammal is pattedyr, literally meaning animals that can secrete milk to feed their young.

An ant is, of course, an insect and not a mammal, so the word myrepatter in itself is an oxymoron. As such, it’s unsurprising to hear that it doesn’t have a literal meaning, but is the equivalent of the English ‘goosebumps’: the feeling of raised hairs or tiny bumps on your skin in response to an exciting experience or feeling particularly cold.

Why do I need to know myrepatter?

‘Goosebumps’ in fact has a closer Danish counterpart than myrepatter. Gåsehud, literally ‘goose skin’ is used in the same contexts — experiencing tiny bumps on the skin when experiencing a breathtaking or surprising moment, or when very cold.

The two Danish words are exact synonyms as far as we can tell, but given that myrepatter is less recognisable from English, you might impress a little more with your Danish knowledge if you use it.

You might come across patter and connected words like yver, meaning udder and (bryst)vorte, which means nipple but also wart, in an agricultural context, but are less likely to do so in general conversation.

Examples

Jeg fik myrepatter over hele kroppen, da Nick Cave gik på Orange Scene på Roskilde Festival.

I had goosebumps all over when Nick Cave went on the main stage at the Roskilde Festival.

Det var en kæmpe fejl at gå en tur uden jakke, selvom det er august. Det var så iskoldt, at jeg fik myrepatter.

It was a huge mistake to go for a walk without my jacket on, even though it’s August. It was so freezing cold out that I got goosebumps.

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DANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Danish word of the day: Kværn

This unassuming little word pops up surprisingly often in Danish, so it's a very good one to have in your vocabulary.

Danish word of the day: Kværn

What is kværn?

Kværn is a noun meaning “mill” or “grinder”, used to refer to any kind of tool or machine that breaks a substance down into smaller pieces.

kværn can be small, for example a peberkværn (pepper mill) or kaffekværn (coffee grinder).

There’s some overlap between kværn and mølle, the Danish word for “mill”. In the past, mølle might have been used to refer to household items like the coffee grinder. It’s now become the reserve of larger pieces of machinery like windmills (vindmølle), but there is stills a bit of interchangeability in Swedish, a sister tongue of Danish.

If you’re in Skåne – the Swedish province closet to Denmark — the word for “mill” in the local dialect is not kvarn but mölla.

Why do I need to know kværn?

The above describes how to use kværn as a noun, but it’s also a verb, at kværne, meaning “to grind” or “to mill”.

Apart from everyday uses like jeg kværner kaffebønnerne (”I’ll grind some coffee beans”), you won’t hear it too often in its literal sense, but it has a lot of figurative meanings too.

For example jeg var så sulten, at jeg kværnede maden uden at sige et ord means ”I was so hungry I gobbled down (literally ’crushed’ or ’ground’) the food without saying a word”.

This can also apply to drinking: han sad og kværnede bajere hele aftenen (“he sat there downing beers all evening”).

It can also be used to describe working very hard, as in jeg skal bare kværne, indtil projektet er færdig (“I have to keep grafting until the project is finished”).

Finally if someone kværner bare løs, it probably means they are talking non-stop.

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