A horrible irl potraite of two swedish speakers stuck in a tack (=thank you) loop
Shop keepers, getting wares handed to them: Tack. Det blir 150 kr, tack.
Customer: Tack själv. Varsågod.
Shop keeper: Tack, här är växeln, tack.
*gives the customer the change*
Customer: Tack.
*Shop keeper puts wares in bag*
Shop keeper: Varsågod. Och tack så mycket!
*Customer takes wares*
Customer: Tack tack
Shop keeper: Tack själv!
Customer and shop keeper: *thinking. Oh no we are stuck in the Tack loop. Will we ever escape from this formal conservation?*
Translation notes
Tack = thank you (casual)
Tack så mycket = thank you very much (formal. Literally: thanks so much)
Tack tack = thank you (repeated in spoken language too make the word more noticable in the sentence)
Tack själv = thank you ( thank you with a direction. Points out the speakers is thanking the one they are speaking to)
Varsågod = your are welcome (literal translation: be very good)
Y'all talk a lot about us Canadians being too nice but I think the Swedes really deserve the award this year.
this be true. although, monolingual english speakers hardly notice, because we do not have a word similiar to “please” in swedish AND politeness in the swedish language is expressed differently than in english.
tourists from the angosphere will therefore sometimes call swedes “impolite” when visiting sweden. but its a language based communcation problem that makes some of us sound impolite in english!
in swedish, our formal language is waaaay more relaxed in modern swedish than in the past. the past version, the formal language before what is called the “du-reform” (thou = reform, referencing how we dropped formal you during this language reform, among things) in sweden, was complex, and i, being born about 50 years after this language reform, hardly masters it. BUT, some of its features remain in modern swedish too.
one of those, is the odd way to ask questions when one is being polite.
this is the classic example of this, still in use in sweden to this day (and my teachers in primary school wanted us too say in the 1990s! the entire damn sentence. its very long haha, you will see)
the examples are said as i was taught in primary school, by my teachers, to speak in a polite manner with my classmates and teachers.
when one want to someone to pass them the butter in a polite manner in english one says:
“pass the butter, please.”
*gets the butter*
“thank you”
in swedish one says:
“skulle du kunna tänka dig, att skicka mig smöret? tack.”
*gets the butter*
“tack så mycket”
english translation, with an attempt to show the literal meaning of the swedish sentences:
“would you consider, the concept off passing me the butter? thank you.
*gets the butter*
“thank you so much”
anyway!
different languages politness system works in different ways. us swedish speakers, gets called rude alot, without deserving it. like this “formal swedish manner” off speaking, were one asks lots and LOTS of questions, say long and comliplicated sentences with certain tenses on the words etc, is something i have a tendency to, without thinking about it, do in english.
and in swedish a do it all the time!
swedish speakers are ofcourse not alone with being misread as rude, when not speaking our native language, because of different language rules for how politeness is expressed. but… as a swedish speaker who speaks english as a second language, this one interests me!
also, about canadian english
this is just an educated guess, but can it be so, that canadian english as an influence from another non- english language which uses thank you more than “standard north american english” (idk what it is called, but..).
i suspect this, because swedish people will “over use” thank you when speaking english, because the swedish “tack” is used in WAY more places in sentences than in english. forexemple, what is going on in my original post, is this:
in swedish one can say tack (=thank you) when:
- you are asking someone to do you an service
- by employees of business to show they heard the customer polite question
- tack is also said, anytime someone gives you something (which is why i have written out everytime someone give eachother something in my original post)
- to express gratitude for someone doing you a service
- to express gratitude to a customer for using your services. to tell a a customer/ a shop keeper that your business exhange is over
and this is why one get stuck in the horrible
thank you loop of doom
the best/worst example of this is really stores, as in my example. like when one is buying something with cash, and the shop - keeper will thank you for giving them money, and you will THEN thank them for accepting your money. well then they give you change back, and one must thank them because they gave you something (in this cause your change).
then they put your item in a bag, and thanks you because you visited, and hand you your bought wares. well THEN, you will thank them because they gave you your wares (and ALSO thank them because they were polite.)
well, THEN they will often feel like they need to thank you for saying thank you. and then you are just stuck, saying:
1 person: tack
2 person: tack
1 person: tack själv!
2 person: tack tack
1 person: tack så mycket!
ONE CAN NOT ESCAPE THE TACK LOOP!
(worsened if both are going on autopilote, so both are just reacting by saying: tack, anytime the other one says tack, which is something that is easy to start doing if one communcate in formal swedish while un - focused)
tack tack tack tack tack
bee-squared-official
