The Dictionaries

In this blog I will be giving examples of some of the crazy entries I've found in the Norwegian to English, Danish to English, and Swedish to English dictionaries I use in the course of my work as a professional translator. To my mind, as an American, they're all errors. Perhaps some of them are alright in British English. Or perhaps some of them were alright 100 years ago. Or even 50 years ago. But I consider them all errors now. 

The dictionaries I'll be referring to (and what they themselves claim about how they deal with US/UK English) are:

Gyldendals Dansk-Engelsk Ordbog. 4th Ed. 1998

Does not mention British verses American English differences in the forward.
The forward from the first edition, which came out in 1954 and which is cited at the start of the dictionary, does mention:
“Ved Valget af Oversættelser af Ord fra Dagligsproget har det ofte været nyttigt at kunne raadføre sig med indfødte Englændere.”
[“In choosing translations of words from colloquial language it has often proven useful to be able to consult with native-born English people.”]

Kirkebys Stor Engelsk Ordbok: Norsk-Engelsk. 2nd Ed. 2003.

Concerning British verses American English the forward states:
“Amerikansk engelsk er registrert i en viss utstrekning, især I de tilfeller der misforståelser kan tenkes å oppstå (see opplaget bukseseler).”
Translation provided:
“American English has been recorded to some extent, notably in cases where there may be ambiguity (see bukseseler).”
Bukseseler subst; pl: braces; U.S.: suspenders; et par ~ a pair of braces (U.S.: suspenders); se hofteholder; sokkeholder; strømpestropp).

Kunnskapsforlagets Norsk-Engelsk Stor Ordbok. 2002.

Concerning British verses American English the forward states:
“Den engelske rettskrivningen følger The New Oxford Dictionary of English, med britisk-engelsk som standard, og med amerikanske former som likeverdige sideformer. Dette innebærer at amerikansk-engelske oversettelser er oppgitt der de avviker fra de britisk-engelske.”
[The English spelling follows The New Oxford Dictionary of English, with British English as standard, and with American forms as equally valid variants. This means that American English translations are cited where they differ from the British English [translations].]

Norstedts Comprehensive Swedish-English Dictionary. 3rd Ed. 2000.

Concerning British verses American English the forward states:
“Wherever American English differs from British English the American variant is given. For the choice of headwords and examples a great number of Swedish, English and American dictionaries have been used (see the Bibliography on page XXII), as well as authentic examples from newspapers, books and different text databases.” -page V