A VICTIM OF “HARDA SATEN”

This morning, I saw with pleasure that a recent post on the jazz club Smalls had been translated into Swedish, where this blog is called JAZZ LIV.  I am very happy when people who live ten minutes away read what I write; to know that I have readers in Tokyo, Istanbul, and Paris is a thrill. 

Here’s the link:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=sv&sl=en&u=http://jazzlives.wordpress.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Djazz.com%2Bblog%26hl%3Dsv%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Dsv-se

Years ago, I was a competent student in Romance languages, so I started to “read” the Swedish text, to see how much Swedish I could pretend to know. 

I now understand what the archaic phrase, “He dissolved in laughter” really means, for when I got to the phrase “harda saten” (with a circle over the first A, an umlaut over the second) for “hard seats,” I couldn’t stop laughing. 

NOW I have a new way to complain about uncomfortable chairs wherever I am, “Oh, these harda saten are killing me,” I will say. 

Thanks so much to my Swedish reader(s) for enhancing my vocabulary: in the name of the Blessed Sid Caesar, I salute you!  And to all my readers: may your saten never be harda.  May you be pillowed through your days!