On the phone to my mum in Finland a while back I somehow found myself having to use the word "organic". I think the conversation went something like this (roughly translated as I speak a very peculiar Swedish dialect with my parents):
Mum: We harvested the potatoes today. We should have enough for the whole winter.
Me: How wonderful to grow your own potatoes. Real, organic potatoes!
Having not lived in Finland for over a decade, finding the right words can prove difficult sometimes when I speak to my parents, and they have to deal with my "Swinglish" from time to time. Therefore, I actually used the English word "organic" ("organisk" in Swedish) when describing the potatoes grown on my parents’ farm.
My mum paused and sounded genuinely confused when she finally replied:
What do you mean, "organic"? All potatoes are organic aren't they?
And indeed they are. So why is the English language using the word "organic" when describing ecologically grown produce? The online dictionary describes "organic" as "of, relating to, or derived from living organisms".
I could understand my mum's confusion as I referred to her potatoes as "living potatoes". Swedish and Finnish, and all the other languages I know, expect English, use "ecologically grown" or "ecological" when describing products that have been grown to a particular standard. It really gives a whole new meaning to "lost in translation"...
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