“Goddagmann Økseskaft" – From folktale to customer service

In Norwegian, we have a saying: “Goddagmann Økseskaft” – literally “Good day, man! – Axe handle!”. It describes those moments when someone answers politely, but completely off-topic.

The phrase comes from an old folktale about a hard-of-hearing man who was expecting a visit from an important guest, in some versions even the king. Not wanting to reveal his weakness, he tried to prepare an answer in advance. Since he was carving an axe handle, he assumed the question would be: “What are you working on?” and had his reply ready: “An axe handle!”. But when the king arrived, he simply greeted him with “Good day, man!”. And the poor fellow promptly answered: “Axe handle!”. A technically correct response, perhaps – but in the completely wrong context.

I was reminded of this story today while trying to sort out some technical details about this very website. After browsing help articles, asking the AI assistant, and finally chatting with a real person, I noticed the same pattern: The answers came quickly, but not always responding to the question I had asked, creating a few "Goddagmann, Økseskaft" moments.

It struck me that maybe customer service today sometimes works a bit like the man with the axe handle – friendly, fast, but not always in tune with the conversation. And if nothing else, it proves one thing: folktales may be old, but their punchlines never go out of date.

Illustration by the beloved folk artist Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914)