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Word for the Travel Wise (01/02/06)
Last year smokers weren't really feeling the love from the hotel and bar industries. Although some smoking traveler's probably used the opportunity to kick the habit or cut back, others just wanted to have a nice long peaceful pull of smoke between a few beers at the pub or in the comfort of their own hotel rooms. In many places you still can, but there are several you can't. Other options include taking it outside in the shivering cold, inhaling short, quick breaths of smoke while tapping away the remnants of a cigarette onto the street. What do I know? I don't smoke.This brings me to a Swedish word that may come in handy for the smoker while in Sweden.
Ett askfat - (pronounced eht uhsk-faht) means ashtray.
Even with the brief pronunciation guide listed I can imagine several smoker's in dire need of the proper disposal of their ashes messing this one up. And in a bad way. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a sound clip for the word above, so I suggest consulting a native speaker. In picking this word it is not say it is a commonly used word in the Swedish language or that the majority of the population are smokers.
Phrasebase has a decent sound library for several language translations. The downside is I couldn't find the Swedish equivalent to the English words we already know in written form. Maybe ett askfat might come up in a Swedish radio sometimes? One can find several stations listed here. As always there's Lonely Planet and their handy pocket phrasebooks.
