One of the things I come across frequently in my work is that Swedish speakers are conscious of the fact that their language is a direct one. Like their fashion and their furnishings, there are no frills to it. No meaningless polite words to cushion bad news. No personal titles. No Mr, Ms, Dr. No ‘Well I am afraid we don’t quite see things that way’, just ‘you’re wrong.’
So when an SAS flight bound from London to Stockholm was diverted to Gothenburg a few weeks ago due to a bomb scare, I had a small (scared) chuckle at what was written on the reason for the free meal vouchers given to the evacuated passengers. Maybe the simple, vague and versatile word DELAY did not fit?
This made me chuckle too! A bomb scare is scary enough but maybe they were worried you’d forget put it on your food voucher to remind you.