The word slutspurt plastered all over Swedish headlines about the US election may have stopped a few English speakers in their tracks, or at least produced a chuckle.
“The candidates’ slutspurt: We’re going to win, win win,” read one headline by public broadcaster SVT, loosely translated by The Local.
“Slutspurt in the US election,” declared radio broadcaster SR.
"The slutspurt that will save Trump: a chance," predicted the Aftonbladet tabloid.
But it has very little to do with either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
In fact, it doesn’t have anything to do with its English sibling “slut” at all.
Pronounced with a long u-sound (similar to “ooo”), slut in Swedish is not a pejorative term for someone who has casual sex with multiple partners. In Swedish, it simply means “end”, and you may for example see slut shown at the end of a film to signify the ending.
But it can make for unfortunate or hilarious Swenglish, especially when it makes an appearance in compound nouns, such as slutstation (the final stop for a train or a bus), slutsignal (the final whistle signalling the end of a match) or indeed slutspurt.
Ok, but what does it mean? The word slutspurt refers to the home stretch, the final sprint in a race. It can be used figuratively too, and you often see it in large letters across shop windows during sale season, to announce the final period of a sale. Bonus points when combined with the English word "sale" instead of the Swedish rea. What says Boxing Day like a slutsale?
And finally, it can also be used to describe the final stretch of an election campaign, such as the US election, which is the less interesting reason for why you may have seen it in headlines as Americans headed to the polls on November 5th.
Slut and slutspurt aren't the only Swedish words that sound a bit, er, rude in English. There's of course fart, kock, prick and oh, so many more. With the help of The Local's readers, here's a list of more words that have an unfortunate ring in other languages.
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