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Useful and cool Swedish words part 4 Posted by on Jun 19, 2017 in Vocabulary

Last year in 2015 there were approximately 13000 new Swedish words that were registered by SAOL (Svenska Akademins Ordlista) and around 9000 words disappeared from the list. This kind of increase hasn’t happened since the 1950s, wrote Johan Lindquist Göteborgs Posten 2015. See the article here in Swedish: link

In this blog post I have collected a good selection of new and useful slang words and words that are very common and popular nowadays. They can be quite unique and sometimes you need some more information on Swedish culture to understand them.

Löneslav: A person who is depended on a monthly, regular income.

Soffpotatis: Couch potato.

Lokalvårdare: Fancier word for a cleaner.

Fickparkera: Park a vehicle with side parallel to curb.

Sällskapssjuk: A person who is bored and desperately need company, maybe a little clingy.

Kärlekskrank: Lovesick.

Bokmal: A person who loves reading books.

Björntjänst: A disservice. Your intentions might be right from the beginning but the outcome of you helping someone results in a disservice.

Hurtbulle: A very active person who works out a lot. Opposite of a couch potato.

Smultronställe: A secret favorite place that not everybody knows.

Bergsäker: 120 % sure of something.

Rävsax: The expression “Hamnar/Sitter i en rävsax” refers to a situation where both options have a negative outcome no matter what you do.

Snedseglare: The expression comes from a sailing term but refers to a person who hasn’t really succeeded in life.

Gnällspik: A person who complains all the time.

 

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Comments:

  1. Anders:

    Jag är ganska säker på att ekonomibiträde inte alls är ett slags städare utan en som jobbar i storkök på skola/äldreboende eller liknande och har ekonomi ansvar.

    • Tibor:

      @Anders Nja det har du rätt i på sätt och vis men städning ingår också i jobbet. Precis som undersköterskor inte heller sköter det jobbet de är utbildade för. Men får lägga till detta.

  2. Asia:

    Other great reasons why I love this culture/language. So to the point! How phenomenal set of words… I wonder if so direct words like these exist in English or my mother language Spanish.