The English word “sale” tops Dansk Sprognævn’s list of English expressions Danes would most like to do without, yet Danish retailers keep printing it on their posters.
Danish stores rarely advertise “udsalg” when they cut prices. They hold a “sale” instead, even though the loan word sits at number one on the Danish Language Council’s list of English terms Danes would rather be without. The pattern was reported by DR on September 1.
Ole Obitsø, editor in chief at the organization Dansk Markedsføring, told DR the choice is perhaps a little lazy. He explained that the marketing industry is so international that the people producing the material do not necessarily sit in the country where it is displayed.
According to Obitsø, the term is especially widespread in the clothing and fashion trade. Firms there watch each other’s marketing closely and adopt it, he said. When a company produces many ads for many platforms, the decision can rest on a gut feeling, without checking what consumers think.
Four letters that fit the poster
Eva Skafte Jensen, a senior researcher at Dansk Sprognævn, has followed the use of the word for decades. She told DR that the four letters in SALE can be used for all sorts of attractive layouts. They can be set upright, at an angle, or stacked in a square with two letters above and two below.
Per Jensen, there is something more harmonious in the English word than in “udsalg”. She noted that companies could also write “tilbud” or “nedsatte varer”, but that those Danish words come out clumsier on a sign.
No outcry from customers
The department store Magasin has held “sale” for many years. PR chief Sandra Garder Abrahamsen wrote to DR Nyheder that the English word simply works well. She described it as a word many people recognize immediately, and one that is well established in fashion and retail.
At the menswear chain Tøjeksperten, August 2026 was the first time a discount campaign ran under the English word. Marketing manager Søren Faxholm of PWT Group said the company wanted to try something different. He added that many of its competitors in the fashion trade are doing the same thing.
Faxholm called it thought-provoking that “sale” is the English word Danes most want to get rid of. He said Tøjeksperten has not noticed any consequences so far. According to him, the chain’s customer service has not heard any major outcry over the wording.
