After several years in Sweden and a move back to the United States, I realized I had picked up quite a few habits. Some decidedly Swedish. Like taking my shoes off every time I enter someone\u2019s home. It\u2019s just a nice thing to do in my opinion and it ensures that all of that gunk I\u2019ve been walking on outside, doesn\u2019t make its way inside.<\/p>\n
One habit that I did not pick up was going out for a fika. Probably because I don\u2019t drink coffee (on a side note, I was once told that me not drinking coffee made me a stereotypical American. Because Americans don\u2019t drink coffee. Obviously.). But no trip to Sweden is complete without hearing the word fika on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
A while back, Katja wrote about the classic snacks for a fika<\/a>, and even took a look at the habit of fika-ing in cafes instead of at home<\/a>.\u00a0 Today, we\u2019re going to talk a bit about the word and the cultural mainstay it has become.<\/p>\n First, what is it? Fika is a cultural phenomenon that is similar to English tea.\u00a0 You\u2019re supposed to have yourself some coffee, maybe some saft if you\u2019re not into coffee, and some baked goods.\u00a0 Fikas are common in the work place, where you\u2019ll sometimes have both a morning and an afternoon fika.\u00a0 They\u2019re a common way to go on a first date. A common way to go on a last date.\u00a0 A common way to meet new people, meet old friends, meet new colleagues.\u00a0 Sometimes you might even have a job interview over a fika.<\/p>\n As you\u2019ll notie above, there\u2019s not much the fika can\u2019t do.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing really. The word itself is pretty impressive.\u00a0 It can act as both verb and noun.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n Verb form: Ska vi fika imorgon eftermiddag? (Shall we fika tomorrow afternoon?) Fascinating isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It gets better. Or at least for the linguistics amongst us it gets better.\u00a0 Nationalencyklopedin<\/a> has a very short, but very interesting (and unfortunately, now NOT free service) that describes how the word originated from a slang language used by marketplace merchants in V\u00e4sterg\u00f6tland.\u00a0 The Swedish word for coffee is kaffe, which became kaffi. Somehow, and this is where my linguistic knowledge hits a wall, the letters were rearranged and we are left with the word fika.<\/p>\n So next time you find yourself in Sweden and someone asks you out for a fika. Say yes. You\u2019ll already have a great conversation starter (speaking of which, Katja has written a lovely post about a classic conversation starter in Swedish<\/a>. Check it out.).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After several years in Sweden and a move back to the United States, I realized I had picked up quite a few habits. Some decidedly Swedish. Like taking my shoes off every time I enter someone\u2019s home. It\u2019s just a nice thing to do in my opinion and it ensures that all of that gunk…<\/p>\n
\nNoun form: Ska vi ta en fika lite senare? (Shall we grab a fika a little bit later?)<\/p>\n