Grallimatik lesson - 'Spännande' ('Exciting')

Hi. Welcome to this lesson in "grallimatik" (grammar).
Today we're gonna talk about the management "in"-words.

The words we use without reflecting.
Quite often they are what I call "power words".


Older such words quite often die a rather unflattering death, take for example the word 'stress tolerant' (stresstålig), that does not fly well anymore.
A word on its way out - but still going strong - is 'flexible' ('Flexibel'). This can still be used to force someone else to 'flex'. There are many other such words, like 'utvecklande' (developing), 'möjligheter' (opportunities) and so on. But we save them for another lesson. :-)

But on to 'Exciting' ('Spännande'). This word is so much in use today I just must point it out.

Some example uses:

• Chefen: Så då levererar du det till nästa vecka.


• Du: Ja, det här kan bli spännande. Verkligen.


• Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.


• You: Yes, this will be exciting. Indeed.

We can be far from sure this will ever happen. But you were at least upbeat about it. And accepted the challenge. So who can blame you?

Another example from the other end:

• Chefen: Så då levererar du det till nästa vecka.
  (Med forcerat glad röst) Visst ska det bli spännande?


• Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.
  Said with forced cheerful voice: This will be exciting, won't it?

We can be rather certain this is an impossible project and goal, but the boss won't accept any excuses. And who wants to be the cry baby anyway?

Example of being friend with the bosses:

• Chefen: Så då levererar ni det till nästa vecka.


• Medarbetare 1: Men vi har ju inte ens fått underlaget från kunden ännu!


• Medarbetare 2: Jag tycker ialla fall att det ska spännande att göra det här!


• Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.


• Worker 1: But we haven't even got the materials from the customer yet!


• Worker 2: Anyway, I think this will be exciting. So you know.

Worker1 came dangerously close to using the i-word, the forbidden word - 'impossible'. Much talk is used to avoid pointing out when things actually can't realistically be done. The game is often lost for the person who utters this negative word. And any smart co-worker should quickly take the chance of being upbeat and positive at that time. Being friends with the bosses.

Example when it all went wrong:

• Chefen: Men varför levererade ni inte som vi kom överens om? Förklara det här nu!
• Medarbetare 1: Vi fick inte underlaget från kunden i tid. Och och...
• Chefen: Nu tycker jag att du är negativ. Du sa ju att det här skulle bli spännande!
• Medarbetare 1: [...]
• Chefen: Det är ditt fel att projektet havererade, nu får du reda upp det här.
• Chefen: Vi har förresten ett nytt projekt som måste vara färdigt veckan efter. Ganska spännande projekt faktiskt. Men det hinner du också!

• Boss: But why didn't you deliver in time as we agreed on? Explain this now!
• Worker 1: We didn't get the materials from the customer in time. And and...
• Boss: You are only being negative here. You said you thought it would be exciting, didn't you!
• Worker 1: [...]
• Boss: It is your fault this project has crashed, now you will have to sort it up.
• Boss: By the way, we have another project that need to be finished the week after. A rather exciting project, I'd say myself. You will have time to finish both of them.

By pinpointing any negative views whatsoever, the boss can get the upper hand here, by immediately blaiming the innocent person. From that point, it is an easy task to get twice the effort out of the worker, which hardly grasp what happened.

Spännande is such a useful word. What is the most interesting aspect about it that I really haven't got a clue what it really actually MEANS, in most cases. So start use it, y'all!

-Christian (also a boss)