Archive for 'Culture'
Swedish names Posted by Katja on Mar 8, 2012
The naming of your child in Sweden is a process that actually has to go through the Swedish tax agency. Recently unusual names have become the norm. Names for girls like Elin, Anna, Hanna, Sofie, Lisa, Felicia and Moa have just in the past year been substituted for 1200 new girls’ names and 1000 new…
Sexy Swedish Men Posted by Marcus Cederström on Mar 5, 2012
Just a few days ago, Sweden took home one of the most coveted awards in all of tourism. World’s most attractive men! Ok, so maybe it doesn’t rank up there with a Nobel Prize (a Swedish honor of course), but it did make headlines. And for some, maybe it gave them another reason to learn…
Björn Ranelid – thumbs up or thumbs down? Posted by jennie on Feb 29, 2012
As all you faithful blog readers will know by now, both me and Marcus are huge fans of Melodifestivalen and we have written several posts about this important event throughout the years. Not so much this year though, despite this year’s final might be the most controversial yet. Why? Because one of the final 10…
Sweden’s New Princess Posted by Marcus Cederström on Feb 28, 2012
In the summer of 2010, much of Sweden was fascinated by the marriage between Crown Princess Victoria and her husband to be, Daniel. Back in August of 2011 it was announced that Victoria was pregnant. And last week, the Swedish royal family welcomed a new princess – Estelle. The name was announced on Friday of…
Hen – the Swedish gender neutral pronoun Posted by jennie on Feb 15, 2012
A tiny three letter word is causing debates and mixed emotions in Sweden at the moment. The word is “hen” and it’s the new suggested gender neutral pronoun – born from what many people feel is a need for a pronoun free of preconceived notions about gender. (I should point out that the word itself…
The cheese slicer – Osthyvel Posted by Katja on Feb 1, 2012
Do you know what this is? In Swedish it is called an Osthyvel. It’s called a cheese slicer. This is in fact a Norwegian invention by Thor Bjørklund, who in 1925 is said to have been given cheese on a slice of bread for lunch. The had cheese melted before he had had a chance…
Swedish swear words Posted by Katja on Jan 27, 2012
The first words many foreigners learn in a new language are usually swear words. I don’t think this is uncommon for anybody, no matter where you come from or what language you want to learn. The point of this post is not to encourage swearing but to explain the degree of different swear words in…