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From all of us… Posted by jennie on Dec 24, 2009
…to all of you: En riktigt god jul år och ett gott nytt 2010! Hope you all are having a great Christmas, wherever in the world you are. Best wishes from Gabriel, Jennie, Katja, Marcus and Tibor
The day before the dipping day Posted by jennie on Dec 23, 2009
Christmas Eve is not only known as julafton in Swedish, it is also known as the Dipping Day (Dopparedagen). And although we are Vikings and quite fond of our winter baths, this name has nothing to do with dipping in the ice cold sea. No, the name Dopparedagen comes from a very old tradition of…
Hangover anxiety, anyone? Posted by jennie on Dec 18, 2009
It’s a well known fact that Swedish is influenced by English. Unfortunately, this relationship does not work both ways. Apart from smorgasbord and ombudsman, there’s not much Swedish influences in general English (apart from in Scottish, but that’s a whole different post). But Swedish is full of great words that pretty much speak for themselves and words that…
V.g. avg. i e.m. Posted by jennie on Dec 15, 2009
Let’s be honest, there’s no fun and exciting way to talk about abbreviations. But they can be tricky and it is quite easy to become Swenglish when there’s an abbreviation involved. So, let’s get this over with, shall we? Useful Swedish abbreviations and where you would see them: ank. = ankommande = arrival, arriving Ank. tåg från Stockholm Train arriving from Stockholm…
Gekås – the temple of freezer bags and socks Posted by jennie on Dec 14, 2009
Imagine Sweden on a beautiful day in July. Imagine the warm breeze, the fresh air, the wide fields, the endless coastlines and the great big smorgasbord of things to do, see and experience. What would you pick? Would you spend the day on the beach? Take a boattrip in the archipelago (skärgård)? A walk in the woods? A stroll around a…
Men dog eleven? Posted by jennie on Dec 7, 2009
In these Google Translation times, the language missunderstandings are probably more and bigger than ever. A friend experienced this when he tried to translate a restaurant meny from Swedish to English and got the not very tempting result “dandruff fish” meaning “mjäll fisk” in Swedish, as in a fish that is very tender. NOT a fish served with flakes from the…
Friday cosiness Posted by jennie on Dec 5, 2009
There is a Swedish expression that completely has taken over TV-commercials, ads, magazines and people’s Facebook statuses around 4pm on Friday afternoon. Fredagsmys. Friday cosiness. This fredagsmys pretty much sums up everthing the Swedes want in a Friday night (fredagskväll) and I will make a brave statement here and claim that today, fredagsmys is more Swedish than a night out on the town getting…