"Måke Califørnia Great Ægain"
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In response to the initiative for the U,S. to buy (or otherwise acquire) Greenland from Denmark, some Danes have started a petition to buy California from the U.S.
Have you ever looked at a map and thought, "You know what Denmark needs? More sunshine, palm trees, and roller skates." Well, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make that dream a reality.
Let’s buy California from Donald Trump!
Yes, you heard that right.
California could be ours, and we need your help to make it happen.
Since this is Language Log rather than Political Humor Log, I'm going to focus on the last bit of humor on that page:
From Hygge to Hollywood – Let’s Make California Danish!
So, what do you say, Denmark?
Let’s make history and buy California. Together, we can bring a little bit of Danish magic to the Golden State – and maybe even teach them how to pronounce "rødgrød med fløde."
The pronunciation of "rødgrød med fløde" is featured in the Wikipedia page for Rødgrød:
Rødgrød (Danish: [ˈʁœðˀˌkʁœðˀ]), rote Grütze (German: [ˈʁoːtə ˈɡʁʏtsə]), or rode Grütt (Low German: [ˈroʊdə ˈɡrʏt]), meaning "red groats", is a sweet fruit dish from Denmark and Northern Germany. The name of the dish in Danish features many of the elements that make Danish pronunciation difficult for non-native speakers, so rødgrød med fløde, literally "red porridge with cream", has been a commonly used shibboleth since the early 1900s.
There's a slow and careful version on YouTube:
…which all reminds me of this great (Norwegian) skit suggesting that Danish is not even comprehensible to Danes:
J.W. Brewer said,
February 13, 2025 @ 12:31 pm
This may preceded the rise of roller skates, but Denmark used to have a variety of tropical colonies with beaches and sunshine before deciding to exit the imperialism/colonization business over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their last such outpost was the Dansk Vestindien, which they sold to Woodrow Wilson for US$25 million back when that seemed a sizable sum, and which are now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Other than a few toponyms there is, I am given to understand, little in the way of remaining traces of the Danish language in the U.S.V.I. and even during Danish rule the local creole (now extinct) was more Dutch-based than Danish-based. But as of 30 years ago I was told that there were still a handful of lawyers practicing in the Virgin Islands who could perhaps not pronounce or carry a conversation in Danish but did have enough reading knowledge of Danish in one specialized register that they could interpret pre-1917 real estate deeds that sometimes remained relevant to understanding who had which specific rights regarding which specific parcels of land.
jin defang said,
February 13, 2025 @ 12:52 pm
I have too much respect for the Danes to want to saddle them with this burnt-to-a-crisp piece of real estate with its bizarre politics. The natives would want to change the recipe for smørrebrød—-look what they've done to sushi, for example—and the terroir is all wrong for producing am authentic kringle. It's not worth the remaining palm trees—meaning those that haven't been scorched, folks.
Jenny Chu said,
February 13, 2025 @ 12:58 pm
JW Brewer you definitely won the obscure knowledge prize today.
David L said,
February 13, 2025 @ 1:28 pm
California already has its own Danish capital, Solvang.
Y said,
February 13, 2025 @ 2:54 pm
They got Solvang already. The rest should be easy.
Y said,
February 13, 2025 @ 2:55 pm
jinx!
David Marjanović said,
February 13, 2025 @ 3:56 pm
The Danish R is not a mere [ʁ]. It is a valiant attempt to produce a pharyngeal trill – that's anatomically impossible, but the Danes aren't giving up.
J.W. Brewer said,
February 13, 2025 @ 4:00 pm
@Jenny Chu: I appreciate the positive feedback, but as the saying goes, the day ain't over yet. (8 hours left in my time zone.)
Viseguy said,
February 13, 2025 @ 7:39 pm
I've been binge-streaming Scandinavian thrillers as an antidote to the news. The sounds of these languages as spoken are soothing indeed, but the mere thought of trying to reproduce these sounds myself gives this BkE (Brooklyn English) speaker a sore throat.
djw said,
February 13, 2025 @ 10:41 pm
I've only lived in California for 4 years (having escaped Texas), and given the choice between having to learn Danish and putting up with the orange shitgibbon in Washington, I'd go Danish every time.
KeithB said,
February 14, 2025 @ 9:09 am
Y and David L beat me too it, but Wikipedia can't do it justice. Let's let the late great Huell Howser take us on a tour:
https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2002/06/20/solvang-road-trip-113/
AntC said,
February 15, 2025 @ 11:09 pm
New Zealand can boast Dannevirke, and plenty of Scandinavian immigration in the 1930's/40's. I'd much rather we become a vassal of Denmark (free membership of EU!) than absorbed into the Gulf of Hawaii.