False friendFeelings
Norwegian
NorwegianRolig
Meaning: Actually means 'calm' or 'quiet'. (Confusingly, in Swedish rolig means 'funny' — a false friend between the two Nordic languages too.)
Looks like: Swedish rolig (funny)
Origin: From Old Norse róligr, from ró, 'peace, rest' — Norwegian and Danish kept 'calm'; Swedish drifted to 'amusing'. Even Scandinavians trip on this one.
More Norwegian false friends
- Time Actually means 'hour'. En halv time = half an hour. Time in the general sense is tid.
- Sky Actually means 'cloud'. The sky overhead is himmelen.
- Grine Actually means 'to cry' or to pull a sour face. In Danish, grine means 'to laugh' — the e…
- Frokost Actually means 'breakfast'. In Danish the same word means 'lunch' — so a cross-border inv…
- Full Actually means 'drunk'. Jeg er full = I'm drunk — not full after a meal.
Explore another collection: Tongue Twisters
Tricky phrases to practice out loud, from languages around the world.
- Pecyn o bersli heb ei brisio, prisio'r persli heb ei becynnu. A 'p/b/pr/br' mutation drill — Welsh initial consonant mutations mean the same root sound…
- Capra neagră sare piatra, piatra-i neagră, capra-i albă. A rapid 'c/pr/n' alternation that gains speed — and the colour-swap at the end trips the…
- Μια πάπια μα ποια πάπια; μια πάπια με παπιά στα παγωμένα νερά. (Mia papia ma pia papia; mia papia me papia sta pagomena nera.) A 'pa/pi/pag' drill — the near-identical syllables pile up while the image stays perfectl…
Keep exploring