CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR WIFE

It's my wife's birthday today, so congratulations to her. Various people came round for drinks this afternoon, and yet again I was reminded of the oddities of foreign languages.

In English we tend to say congratulations to the person concerned when it's their birthday. They do that in Danish as well; but they also say congratulations to people connected to the person concerned. Since I am connected with my wife by being married to her, they say to me "congratulations on your wife" (tillykke med konen), even though it's her birthday, not mine.

I find this odd in itself. But what makes it really odd is that it's also said by other people who are themselves connected to her. Like her mother or her sister. This results in the slightly absurd situation (as happened today) where my mother-in-law greets me and says congratulations on your wife, and I greet her and say congratulations on your daughter.

The only explanation I can give is that Danes don't have enough things to congratulate themselves on.

Walter Blotscher