Gasp Like You Mean It

There are certain things that are bound not to translate when living in a foreign country. Of course there are words, like the aforementioned hygge, that have no English counterpart— but I’m referring to non-verbal forms of communication. They’re things we take for granted: gestures or exclamations that make sense to us, but will completely blindside a foreigner. The Danes have such a quirk that continues to startle me every time I encounter it: a sudden, sharp intake of breath.

Yes, my friends— the Danes gasp.

Although it is, essentially, a gasp, it doesn’t seem to mean what it does for those of us in the English-speaking world. More often than not, it doesn’t mark any kind of surprise or intense emotion. Nor is it the result of running out of breath. It happens so randomly, that I can’t figure out a solid pattern for when “gasping” is appropriate. I’m not even sure the Danes themselves are aware that they’re doing it.

The most obvious “gasper” I’ve encountered is my studio teacher Pernille— a small and frenetic woman who ingests entirely too much caffeine than is appropriate for her size. Whether or not this excessive caffeine consumption has anything to do with her gasping is unknown. What is known is that she will gasp— at least once— during any conversation held with her.

I’ll be talking about my ideas for a project, when I hear the characteristic intake of air. I’ll pause, waiting for her input— expecting, as one usually does when one hears such a reaction, criticism— but she’ll just remain silent, waiting until I’ve finished talking to tell me that my ideas are fine and I should continue doing whatever I’m doing.

Or she’ll be giving us a lecture in my Visual Journal class about the effect light and shadow have on an object, when she’ll pause to consider something. There’ll be a moment’s silence as she thinks to herself, when suddenly she gasps as if she’s had some sort of epiphany. But she hasn’t— she’ll just continue along the same vein as before.

I’m not the only one to have noticed; an acquaintance of mine in the Pre-Architecture program has mentioned that her studio teacher gasps as well, and one of the program assistants has made the observation that about 40% of Danish women, and 20% of the men are gaspers. Certainly Pernille isn’t the only one— I’ve noticed both my host mother and Charlotte gasp (though both do it much less frequently than Pernille; my host mother tends to do it only when she’s listening to others talk, while Charlotte tends to do it only when she’s thinking to herself).

But what does this gasping mean, and how did it come to ingrain itself in the Danish population? The world may never know.