Clothing words ought to be fairly straightforward. A jumper is a jumper. A pair of shoes is a pair of shoes. A hat is a hat. But as soon as you start comparing Swedish and English, certain clothing words begin to behave suspiciously. Take smoking. In Swedish, smoking means an elegant formal outfit. You picture smart dinners, a bow tie and a black jacket. But in English, smoking means rökning. So if you say “He wore a smoking”, it does not sound as if he was elegantly dresse

Falska vänner (False friends) are words that look like old friends from another language. They wave cheerfully and say, “You know me!” Then it turns out they changed personality at passport control. Swedish and English have plenty of these words. They look the same, or almost the same, but mean something else. Sometimes the difference is enormous. Sometimes it is just small enough to cause a beautifully unnecessary misunderstanding. Here are a few classics.