Vikings and spam

I’m in Stockholm for an Internet Architecture Board meeting; I arrived early Friday morning, took the Arlanda Express train from the airport into the city, and got to the meeting at the Royal Viking Hotel, next door to the train station. Very convenient... much more convenient than if, say, one had to get from JFK Airport to a meeting in Times Square.

Now, note that I know exactly one word in Swedish: öl. It means “beer”, so it shouldn’t surprise y’all that that’s the word I know. (Interestingly, the same word in German means “oil”. I’m not sure whether there’s a connection there, but never mind.)

So on the train, I was listening to these two Swedish guys talking to each other, in Swedish, of course, and of course I wasn’t understanding anything they were saying. Except for “mail” and “spam”, which they said a number of times.

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam..........