The almighty ‘personnummer’ (your birthdate) makes everyones ages\u2019 public and this may explain why Swedes do not mind giving their age when introducing themselves. For example when a group of people introduce themselves for each other, they say what their name is and how old they are. \u00a0You age is a kind of ‘taboo’ subject in many countries. \u00a0It is rude to ask someone how old they are. \u00a0When describing someone, phrases like ‘she’s in her mid-40s’ are common. \u00a0Here in Sweden, we say the birth year, like ‘I’m a 94:er’. \u00a0This is also used to describe soccer teams, etc ‘Boys 98’. \u201cPojkar 94 \u00c5lidhem p\u00e5 plan 3\u201d meaning \u201cBoys 94 from the \u00c5lidhem team on soccer field 3\u201d\u00a0During summer soccer tournaments you will hear those sorts of announcements being repeatedly made over the loudspeakers.<\/p>\n
Perhaps people in Sweden are even proud of their age and want to let people know how old they are in relationship to how young they look (with hair dye, etc).<\/p>\n
Students are not divided up according to when the school term starts but in respective to what year they are born. If you are going to start first grade year 2011 (usually when you are 6 years old in Sweden) you might already have turn 6 if you are born before August, but you might just as well be 5 turning 6. Therefor all people in a class are \u201cyear 11\u2019s\u201d or \u201c88\u2019s\u201d etc.<\/p>\n
So that was yet another use of the almighty \u201cpersonnummer\u201d for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The almighty ‘personnummer’ (your birthdate) makes everyones ages\u2019 public and this may explain why Swedes do not mind giving their age when introducing themselves. For example when a group of people introduce themselves for each other, they say what their name is and how old they are. \u00a0You age is a kind of ‘taboo’ subject…<\/p>\n