"I Don't Understand What Anyone Is Saying Anymore"

I just read a great thing about the way many people talk today = they talk in a way where it is impossible to understand exactly what they mean.  Or even remotely understand what they are trying to say.  The article is by Dan Pallotta, was published in Harvard Business Review, and you can read it here.  It is really worth to spend a few minutes on this article (it is not long).

Dan Pallotta talks about the five expressions of this epidemic of stupid talking:
Abstractionitis
Acronymitis
Valley Girl 2.0
Meaningless Expressions
Abstract Valley Girl 2.0 Acronymitis Using Meaningless Expressions   

I have seen all of these in presentations and discussions, and it often drives me crazy, even if I am guilty of it too.  But no longer.  But I will still wear my T-shirt (which is on today!) that says "think outside the box"  with a drawing of a TV.  But I do think we need to get the language we use back to reality.

It is very interesting to ask someone that just has fed you a long sentence of abstractionitis, "So, what does that really mean?"  Often, they have no good answer.  Which means, they had nothing real to say to begin with. In Swedish, we call this 'ordbajseri'. (That means sort of like 'bullshitting' in Swedish, but more mean.)

Dan's example about 'exceeding expectations' is hilarious.  I think most consumers no longer have any (and certainly not high) expectations regarding services and products.  The products or services just break or don't work out well.  Just ask anybody that is flying with Continental recently, for example. So, exceeding expectations is not really what you want to focus on as a company.  How about focus on making products that are not made to break, try to make customers happy and satisfied and not just poor and angry, and have a personal, local touch?  Without speaking abstractionitis or acronymitis... :)

What if the people that suffers from these epidemic speech patterns not only speak but also think this way?  That would be scary.  How can they then reason logically, think straight, and make good decisions? So, back to simple reality, in speech too.

Learning Swedish through Swedish music classics

There is so much great music in Swedish that never made it outside the borders.  A person in nearby me is currently learning Swedish and she loves music, so this is for her - listen and learn!  (And the rest of you can as well, of course.)

Sofia Karlsson, a fantastic young artist, recorded a new version of my favorite Peps Persson's 80's blues and reggae song För livet ('For life') in 2007, a song that I heard over and over again growing up and loved.  Peps version is filled by his 'skånska' accent from southernmost Sweden, but Sofia's version turns it more into a folk ballad.  You can listen to Sofia's version here. And here are the lyrics, line by line, with translation (literal, as much as possible) in parentheses.  Enjoy!

This song is a homage to all living things, all species.  Peps Persson has written several songs on this theme, and also songs that criticize society, capitalism, and materialism.  Som of this more famous song titles are (in translation): High Standard, False Mathematics, Oh Boy, and The Totally Fooled Generation.

Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

för allting som växer      [for everything that grows]
som lever och andas,       [that lives and breaths]

och föds och dör.          [and get born and dies]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

jag vet inget annat        [I don't know anything else]
som ger både mening        [that gives both meaning]

och dagligt bröd           [and daily bread]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

jag sjunger för full hals  [I'm singing out loud ('full throat')]
Jag leker med toner        [I'm playing with tunes]

och kysser ord             [and kissing words]
Jag spelar för livet,      [I'm playing for life]

med huvudet i himlen       [with the head in heaven]
och fötterna dansar        [and the feet are dancing]

på Moder jord              [on Mother Earth]

Jag spelar för livet, natt och dag [I'm playing for life, night and day]
Jag spelar för livet, sådan är jag [I'm playing for life, that's how I am] 
Jag spelar för livet, dag och natt [I'm playing for life, day and night] 
Jag spelar för livet, därför att   [I'm playing for life, because] 
Jag spelar för livet               [I'm playing for life]

Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

med bultande hjärta      [with pounding heart]
och själen bräddfull     [and soul filled full]

av glädje och sorg       [with happiness and sorrow]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

jag våndas, jag njuter   [I am scared, I am happy]
och säljer min möda      [and selling my work]

på månglarnas torg       [at the marketers' square]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

och glömmer bort döden   [and forgetting about death]
för vid den horisonten   [because at that horizon]

syns inget ljus          [there is no light]
Jag spelar för livet     [I'm playing for life]

och litar på tiden       [and trust that time]
som alltid har växt      [which always has grown]

till nästa nu            [to the next now]

Jag spelar för livet, sådan är jag [I'm playing for life, that's how I am] 
Jag spelar för livet, natt som dag [I'm playing for life, night and day] 
Jag spelar för livet, dag och natt [I'm playing for life, day and night] 
Jag spelar för livet, som besatt   [I'm playing for life, like possessed] 
Jag spelar för livet               [I'm playing for life]

There is a Youtube video of Sofia and her band singing this song too, but the audio quality is not as good as the link above.  And, here is Peps Persson's song False Mathematics (Falsk matematik), in Swedish original, about the unfairness of rich and poor...

At IKEA in China...

swedish meatballs, ikea, originally uploaded by myshoes51.

They have little Swedish flags in the meatballs! And neat mashed potato balls too. Globalization in action is not always what you expect.

Photo copyright by myshoes51 on Flickr.

Skogen är full av lingonben

...benen kliver över stock och sten
hipp och hopp och murkla,
där stod kantarellen.

Föränderliga semlesvamp,
bleka taggsvampar och därtill
uti gröna mossan tutade i tratten.

Långa klivet hemåt gick,
tunga armar då jag fick
tutade och vissla, men jag hörde inget

Glad med lingon i min hink
tunga kassen skogens guld
nu så ser jag huset
"nu ä mamma hemma!"

Barking dog plaza 13/9 2008

For all non-swedish speaking: If you use the automatic translator for this, I can tell you it doesn´t even make sense in swedish. I´m just fooling around with a swedish nonsense vocal, with my own words. Ask LS and she will, maybe, tell you the general idea.
Because...this is what the automatic translator comes up with

Forest is full of lingonben
bone stride over logs and stone
hip and spring and decayed ,
there stood kantarellen.
Alterable semlesvamp ,
bleach taggsvampar and därtill
uti greener pulp tutade in funnel.
Tall stride hemåt was going ,
tongue arms then self was getting tutade and hiss ,
but self heard nothing
Jolly with linguist in mine bucket
tongue bin forest gold
now so am seeing self accommodate
" now ä mamma housewife!"

Do you understand anything? How can lingon be linguist? And hemma translate to housewife?
I think it´s amazing they call this translation service. But of course, they claim to know 1600 different languages, and since almost nobody speaks swedish, who would know if they cheat a bit? Intertran

LS' translation (with some minor changes and no rhymes):

The forest is full of lingon legs
walking over logs and rocks
hipp and jump and morel,
there was the chantarell!

Everchanging pastryshroom,
pale spike fungi and more as well,
trumpeted in the green moss.

Long steps toward my home,
with burdened arms I walked,
toot and whistle, but I heard nothing

Happy with full lingon bucket,
heavy bag with forest gold
now I see the farm house,
"now Mom is home!"

Good thinking

Überlebensradar!

/O.K.

Untranslatable expressions

There are some expressions that exist in Swedish that I have never heard in English, like:

"Näe, nu går fan på torra land!" [= Oh no, the devil is walking on dry ground!]

and

" tomtar på loftet" [= gnomes in the attic]

The first expression means that you are very surprised over something you see or experience, and the second mean that you are loony or a little bit crazy. The attic is your brain obviously, but I wonder where the devil expression came from. Any opinions, suggestions, ideas? I didn't think the devil lived in water, so why is it unusual that he is on dry ground?

Maybe you have even crazier Swedish expressions to share?