I am rather torn on this issue. I usually prefer to spell Malmö with an ö, but I suspect spelling it with an ø is the correct Danish spelling. Cities of note can have an established Danish spelling. Rögle - outside of hockey - is virtually unknown in Denmark and so they don't have a Danish spelling.
But, as this is an English language forum, I think the most correct spelling would be either Swedish or English. And since spelling it Malmo and Rogle just feels wrong, I say stick to the Swedish spelling.
As an aside, I have Finnish friends who get slightly offended when Danes use Swedish names for Finnish cities: Helsingfors over Helsinki, Ã…bo over Turku and so on. Undoubtedly, the Swedish names are easier on the Danish tongue, but I honestly don't know if the Swedish names are also official Danish names.
Warning, looong rant - it's time for one I guess, but it is not to be taken to seriously
and I only speak generally not to anyone in particular
Well Swedish is an official language in Finland, so both names are equally correct.
Most of the towns are actually founded by Swedes, so I don't know why Finnish people should be offended as most (if not all) languages has a name for foreign towns and countries in THEIR OWN dictionary. Should they offended if you call them finns when they are suomalainen?
Should we be offended that Finnish people call our nation "Tanska" and we are tanskalainen and Sweden is "Ruotsi" and swedes are ruotsalainen??
Should we be offended that english speaking people call København for Copenhagen and Helsingør for Elsinore?
Should Italians be offended we Danes call Venezia for Venedig (which is the German word for it by the way).
Should "Hungarians" been offended that english speaking people call their nation for "Hungary" when they are actually Magyar living in Magyarország.
If you go to "Bangkok" remember the name is actually:
Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit [or short just Krung Thep Mahanakhon]
meaning:
The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.
Now that is an impressive mouthful!
Is it offensive if you can't pronounce it?
Malmø and Røgle is in Skåne and that was Danish before it was Swedish, so why should we change our spelling just because they conquered it later?
Denmark has in fact a locality called Røgle, so it is a correct "Danish" place name.
Also spelled Røjle, it means in Old Danish a "stacked pile of sheaf" (Danish korn-neg), and can also be used about a "long low crest" on a agricultural field.
Source for place:
http://www.fugleognatur.dk/lokalitetintro.aspx?ID=39747
Source for etymology:
http://ordnet.dk/ods/ordbog?query=røgle
Danish could in fact have two different vowels as you actually see in some older books: Øxe and Øre, but Örred and Smör as anyone will hear are two different sounds. This is a change that would make sense. Other changes doesn't: x -> ks & aa -> å are other "horrible" developments, the last one actually from Swedish
where is originally was a ligature for the "ao" sound, but in Danish surnames it stayed unchanged so Aagaard and not Ågård.
That's why I always spells it Sønderjy
dskE and not SønderjyskE - jysk is the modern post 1955 spelling - if anyone wondered.
En jyde er jydsk, unless he is a "jye" being jysk??
People can always find a reason to be offended if they want to. [Apparently also me with some nonsense modern spellings
but at least we avoided the "Majonæse effect" as they had in Norway with Skokolade & Sitron for instance].
If people*spelled the way they spoke (as you always hear people say when they have trouble spelling) where I live now it would be "Kaf og Te'e" and it would be chaos trying to understand other dialects written down!
Example: This "famous" sentence "Jeg er ude på øen i åen, er jeg" (Litt: I am out on the island in the river, am I) in some parts of western Jutland it would be
A æ u o æ ø i æ å, æ a
but in Thy they would say the same sentence:
Æ æ u po æ ø i æ o, æ æ
Source:
http://forum.skalman.nu/viewtopic.php?t=39183
Try to give texts like that in writing for Danish exams in Copenhagen
If you are ready for a really hard dialect - this guy from Trøndelag (0.21 min in) even defeats other Norwegians that are used to hear much more dialects in their media.
Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62Xgnx0oy-Q
Wonder how it would look if they wrote the way they spoke............
