Watching a little baseball and packing up my suitcase in preparation for my trip to Uppsala later this afternoon. I’m really looking forward to this workshop, even though it’ll mean a couple of long days.

That first sentence made me think of a weird thing in Swedish — to do something “up” means to un-do it. Like, to “packa upp” your suitcase means to unpack it. Totally, one-hundred percent, literally opposite to what it means in English. The same holds true elsewhere. Translated, to “zip up” your jacket means to unzip it. To “button up” your shirt means to unbutton it. It’s taken me years to understand that when my kids ask me, in English, to “tie up” a shoelace or a knotted jump-rope or whatever, they want me to untie it. How strange is that?