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Comment by jmartinpetersen | Hacker News Reader

  Ventilen, or “friend to one” in Danish,

That's an unusual translation. A more obvious would be "valve" or just "vent".

- Edit after coffee: "Ven til en" actually means "friend of one". Amazing how faulty pattern recognition can lead you astray.

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I think a more appropriate translation would be 'friend for one', as it can be read as an offer. »Ven til en« is obviously an unusual way of phrasing it, but replace »ven« with any commodity you can purchase, then it sounds more like an offer (a free one, that is).

That being said, 'friend of one' is definitely an accurate translation as well. And 'friend to one' is just the literal translation. I wonder how they pronounce it, »ven til en« or »ventilen«.

Ok I'm Swedish, but my reading is "friend of someone" combined with "friend of you". It's hard to explain but it holds these 2 meanings very closely.

Plus the pun of "valve" in the same word, which is also fitting, for letting out steam.

Besides it sounds great in English. Sounds like a new expensive drug. Imagine the TV commercial: "Contact your doctor to learn if Ventilen is for you. May cause hair loss, liver failure and bla bla bla. "

There Salbutamol, marketed as Ventolin, used to treat asthma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salbutamol

but do you still think of "friend to one/you/someone" when it is spoken "ventilen" as one word?

No. Then it’s just ”the valve”.

It's a nice play on words.

Ventilen would still make sense in this setting :)

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