Sweden according to mig. Posted by jennie on Jan 27, 2010 in Culture
Today, it happens to be all about me me me and my favourites from up north. And since I’m a sucker for list, here’s my list of things I love about, from and in Sverige. Click away!
Favourite Famous Swede:
The remarkable children’s authur Astrid Lindgren. If you still haven’t read the amazing stories about the Lionheart Brothers, Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter or Mio, My Mio, please do so. Immediately.
Favourite Swedish Word:
Smultronställe = a place that you love and cherish is your “wild strawberry place”. Smultron = Wild strawberry. Ställe = Place.
Favourite Swedish Slang:
Gött = great
Möla = stuff your face with something yummy
Asar = Lurch around doing nothing
Favourite Swedish Sayings:
Smaken är som baken – delad = The taste is like your butt – divided.
Man ska inte ropa hej förrän man är över bäcken = Don’t shout hello until you have crossed the stream.
Favourite Swedish Food:
Without a doubt Falukorv. Followed by a newly baked, big and moist cinnamon bun after this recipe. Mmm heavenly.
Favourite Swedish Candy:
Polly – a little chocolate covered foam-thing with butter fudge filling that has been a Swedish classic since 1965 and can be purchased at IKEA. A must, I tell you. And horribly salty liquorice, of course!
Favourite Swedish Movie:
“En Kärlekshistoria” (A Love Story/Roy Andersson, 1970)
“Tilsammans” (Together/Lukas Moodysson 2000)
“Farväl Falkenberg” (Goodbye Falkenberg/Jesper Ganslandt 2006)
(All are available with subtiles)
Favourite Swedish Webpage:
www.blocket.se – where the Swedes buy and sell their used cars/furniture/clothes/cell phones… Last year, we bought and sold tings for almost two billions on there! Simple, fun AND environmental friendly.
Favourite Swedish blog:
Well, apart from the obvious, I – and almost half of Sweden’s population – love to read this funny a sharp blog by the Swedish journalist and author Alex Schulman.
Favourite Swedish Book:
Apart from everything with Astrid Lindgren I can read Swedish crime until my eyes bleed. The favourite author at the moment is Mons Kallentoft and his novel “Sommardöden” (The Summer Death) gives me the creeps just by standing there in the book shelf.
Favourite Swedish TV-show:
“Mia och Klara”, Swedish humour at its best. Have a sneakpeak – in Swedish – here!
Favourite Swedish Magazine:
Without a doubt Filter. It’s thick like a book and contains billiant, long articles about everything. Literally everything.
Favourite Swedish Brand:
String has made classic and great looking shelves since the 1950’s. Welcome to design heaven!
Favourite Swedish Shop:
Monki makes great and stylish women’s clothes to very much affordable prices.
Favourite Swedish Song:
At the moment, it’s Hästpojkens “Gitarrer och bas, trummor och hat”. (Guitars and base, drums and hate).
Favourite Swedish Royalty:
Our one and only female regent, Queen Kristina (1632-1654) a very interesting and strong character. Amongst the now living it must be the middle kid, 28-year old Madeleine. Both her and her older sister Victoria, our next regent, are getting married this summer. Talk about wedding fever!
Favourite Swedish City:
Göteborg. Make sure to visit Slottskogen, a huge and beautiful park with lovely surroundings, lots of animals and great events. And, more important, have an ice cold beer on the 23d floor of Gothia West Tower.
Favourite Place In Sweden:
Bohuslän, the little county on the south west coast. There’s noting like it. My smultronställe.
Favourite Thing To Do In Sweden:
Right this moment, after writing this, I would probably say to möla Polly while reading Mons Kallentoft and listening to Hästpojken somewhere on a warm cliff in Bohuslän. Try it, it’s gött.
But remember, smaken är som baken so please feel free to share your list!
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Comments:
David:
Yeah, Gothenburg doesn’t surprise me: both “gött” and “möla” are typical Western Swedish slang… If you say “möla” in Stockholm, people won’t understand you… 🙂 “Goffa” might get you farther, but “smälla i sig” is probably more on the safe side.
(As an aside, the word “asa” required a more extensive search: Rietz’ “Svenskt dialektlexikon” from 1862, still the definitive reference, puts the word both in Hälsingland, and in southern Sweden from Småland and downwards – it might well have been brought to Gothenburg since then from Halland, for instance. The actual mening is something like “to act like a carrion (=as)”, ie do nothing (you’re dead, right?). It’s all at http://runeberg.org/dialektl.)
Sorry. Anyway. My favourite city is Uppsala, with Stockholm and Gothenburg not far behind.
Favourite TV show: “Antikrundan” of course! But “Varan-TV” is still the funniest show ever made.
Right now my favourite Swedish book is Torgny Lindgren’s “Pölsan” (in English translation as “Hash”). John Ajvide Lindqvists “Låt den rätte komma in” (Let the right one in) is also a great read – wish I’d read more of his stuff.
Favourite Swedish candy: for some reason I have an unhealthy addiction to Daimkulor, ie. the small chocolate-covered Daim pellets.
I’m also going to introduce a new category: Favourite Swedish radio program. My answer there should be a given: SR Språket…
Luke (Sydney):
It rhymes too—smaken, baken!
jennie:
@david: Götalaborg in my heart! As you easily figured out. I aslo love Jonas Ajvide Lindqvist – especially “Människohamn” – unbelievable good in many ways. “Pölsan” is also a masterpeace. And why am I not surprised you like SR Språket? 🙂 It is a great show though. Are you based in Uppsala now?
jennie:
@luke: I know, make sit even better and easier! 🙂
Meg:
Hey, when it comes to Götet slang, I keep forgetting what “la” means. Can you remind me? I think it means “well”, but I can’t remember :S Tusen tack!
jennie:
Meg: It’s kind of a slang for the Swedish word “väl”, a bit hard to explain, a short word put in here and there for reassurement, alsmost like isn’t it and wasn’t it. Example:
Den var la bra? Den var väl bra?
That was good, wasn’t it?
God, that is a hard one! Anyone’s got a better explaination?
IGLU:
Your style is so unique compared to other people I have read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this page.