Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

I blogged last year about some Swedish surprises, many enjoyable but others disconcerting.

One
of my discoveries this trip is that Swedish “aha” isn’t quite like an
English “aha.” In (American)
English, “aha!” is an exclamation of great surprise, said with a bounce
like “Wow!” or “Eureka!” or
“Unbefriggin’lievable!” In Swedish English, “aha” expresses a kind of
friendly interest, something like maybe “Mmmm”or “Tell me more.”

Why is this disconcerting? Imagine somebody who often says “Wow” in
tones of polite restraint and you’ll understand.

My brother Kevin just sent me some great photographs–this one reminded me (aha!) of my first surprise at the northern European “two-bed double bed.” In America, two people who share a bed are sharing one undivided mattress covered by the same top sheet and quilt(s). In Sweden, the shared bed now has a cold hard divide down the middle. The best thing about the Swedish two-mattress system is that nobody will tease you about stealing the covers all onto your side of the bed.

One great surprise this time was the
meringue cake served at the Operakälleren. Fortunately, the
wonderful Lena (who races sled dogs in her spare time from winning
prizes for cooking) says that she will send me the recipe–because that
cake is  Aha! and Wow! and even Eureka!