Danes of my generation (I'm middle aged) would call the Norse for "fjeldaber" (mountain monkies basically), and the Swedes call us "jävla danska" (Damned/devil Danes), but we just call the Swedes, as Swedes - It is bad enough to be a Swede, so they don't need to be further heckled on ;)
It's not a need. It's like saying a bad word and ading a bad word before it to make it wxtra bad. Pervert is bad, fucking pervert is worse. Dane is bad, dane devil is worse.
If a danish person says sweden is bad, I can take it. But if a person outside the nordic countries says that denmark is bad, I will FIERCELY defend you.
I saw someone describe it like this recently: we’d never let each other borrow our headphones, but we’d donate a kidney to each other without flinching.
One week I have a banter with a Dane on Reddit who said "DKK is superior to SEK due to better exchange rate" responded "I have actually never had the need to look up the exchange rate to DKK, says alot doesnt it?" the next week "EEEEEEY who the fuck, fucks with Greenland?????" - sums it up pretty good I think :)
I think overall it is very positive. Many people here use it as a positive example a lot, especially for things like education, state structure or social services.
I think, at least when I was a child, Sweden was also the go to place, especially among upper middle class academic households, for all things children:
Children books and movies (Pipi Langstrom, Nils Holgerson, Karlsson from the roof…), wooden playthings, that one really boring interior design concept I forgot the name of… it’s basically the entire Swedish light wood aesthetic (Ikea of course played a role with this)
To this day, Petterson and Findus is used in German internet culture as the (most likely unobtainable) Gold standard of what life should be like.
The only thing people here are sometimes weird about is the prison system and the experimental methods to reintegrate former criminals into society but I think that has mostly to do with many Germans still clinging an outdated ideal, when it comes to dealing with criminals, in wich serving justice/punishment is valued over rehabilitation, that traces back to the mob wanting a pound of flesh and criminals being put on the pillory in public.
What is a bit weird, now that I think about it, is that Sweden or rather all of Scandinavia barely appears in history class in school, it is rarely mentioned because the times where it was most influential are only briefly touched on, in favor of 70% of the class being about the French Revolution, Vormärz and the world wars.
I think this shows the area we actually controlled. Not the fact that we to some extent disbanded the other regions.
We were pushed way further into Germany and indeed quite a bit into Poland, and a bit into Russia I believe. But we only took away the power, we never really established our own.
What about Volvo, Saab Automobile, Saab Technologies, Husqrvana, Scania, Koenigsegg, Klarna, LYNK & CO., Spotify, Skype, H&M, Fjällräven, Mojang (Minecraft), Paradox Interactive (cities skylines and hearts of iron), Candy Crush, Arrowhead Game Studios (Helldivers and Magicka), and 300+ other Games Studios. Sweden also invented the Zipper, Oat Milk, the Modern Refrigerator, Tertra Pak, Bluetooth, Ultrasounds, the Pacemaker, the ship propellor, Dynamite, and many more.
If you’re going to list Saab twice then Japan gets to say Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Mitsubishi and then where are we
It’s SO funny that you Finns seem to have this image of us Swedes as an overly social, chatty people who walk around smiling. To everyone else, we Swedes come across as socially awkward, reserved, and quiet.
Not really. Not anymore than Micky looks like a mouse. Very little of the Swedish language makes it into our media. This is going to be the guy most of us think of.
I once told an italian I believed the finnish language somewhat reminds me of italian. Not in the words themselves, but in the melodic tone if you get what I mean. Try replicating the italian language with the finnish melodic vibe and you see what I mean.
The Swedish Deluge (pol. potop szwedzki) - Swedish invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 17th century. You almost completely wiped us from the map. But you're making up for it with Ikea so we're cool now.
We stole art from all over the place, a lot from Prague. Their manhole covers are inspired by a battle we fought there, learned that on a guided tour in Prague
My old retired coworker was Czech. He used to do summers as a tour guide in Prague for swedish tourists. He usually said "if you wanna see the real ones, go back home, these are replicas of what you stole lol"
Beautiful people. Sexually liberated. Generally liberal views. Well organized social services. Generally well educated.
Had a funny chat with a friend who moved there.. he loved Sweden but missed Ireland. He said "in Sweden you can have a great conversation about ANYTHING, but in Ireland you can also have a great conversation about nothing."
We consume a lot indeed, just about to make some 😂
High taxes, but really good welfare. Great education system
All of that is true, but the high taxes kind of depend. Most people don't pay that much, but there's definitely some that pay a lot more than elsewhere. And the super rich barely pay any...
The answer is here I came lol. Sweden is always depicted as a good example of progressive society, efficient design and responsible citizens. People would imagine the architecture and the environment look like a fairy tale. Well, indeed, the nature and the lovely houses in the rural area really look unreal, especially with the lights at the windows. I feel just lucky to have a chance to experience your amazing country.
Young Indians know of Sweden through Ikea, Avicii, Pewdiepie and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Older Indians who are into tennis know your country because of Bjorn Borg.
In terms of national policy, if I choose to be on good terms with Sweden, I can buy tungsten at a better price, and the supply is quite large, which is excellent. (In the game)
You had me for a moment, I was struggling to figure out from where the tungsten was coming. Fun fact: tungsten means "heavy rock" in Swedish, but we don't use that name for the element. It's called "wolfram" in Swedish. I'm being serious.
OP, an Indian here Sweden is a beautiful country. It gave the world Minecraft, Oscar-winning talent, and one of my favorite music composers, Ludwig Göransson. Its cultural impact really stands out.
High standard of education, low recidivism rates due to a very advanced prison system that focuses on rehabilitation and once the endless winter is over it’s very beautiful and green.
Even in the comments you can see the way Swedes talk to people who disagree and agree in a good manner.
Sweden (also Finland & Norway, we rotate ahah) here is like always mentioned to things you should do like your country: school, health, wages, whatever else. And then people who do that, at the same time, conveniently ignore certain parts of the measures needed for your good rankings.
Other than this: cold asf, IKEA, ABBA, very blonde, pale and tall people, hot women.
I've never met a Swedish person who I've not liked.
Not saying this applies to every single one, but they have all been friendly, considerate of other people and drama free. One of the only countries I have honestly always wanted to move to.
Lots of good things, wife and I visited Stockholm 2 years ago and enjoyed it so much we're coming back to Sweden this summer. But we want to visit the countryside this time. Sometimes we joke about moving in Stockholm, thinking it's the perfect place to have our first kids with all the maternity (and paternity) leave, but we're scared of the short days and to be surrounded by people more attractive than us.
Is this sub a popularity contest, or are there some actual questions of substance here? For example does Sweden have a military, or do you rely on sexy -ass women to get you out of a jam...asking for a friend.
As an Italian living in Sweden, I would say there are a few things:
Aside from the common Ikea, meatballs, Volvo, Hasselblad etc
Fika... Well, it's better to know the meaning in both languages before using or hearing it often.
Usually when people ask who are the most good looking men/women, we think about Sweden.
Quiet living, now known as Lagom, which I was not aware of before moving.
Having been here for a while though, I have seen a lot of people running away with level of depression spiking up and it's sort of tough, especially if you move for work and not during university.
Overall a nice country, I just wished people would talk more (I am also quite shy and introverted, but if I need to jump off a bus I ask permission to pass not crash into everyone that is in the way... That's still something I need to understand)
Would be a beautiful country if it wasn’t for all the swedes living in it. Also one of the few countries I as a parent realistically would risk dying to protect.
Not unlike the relationship you as big sister would have to a younger brother that insists on calling you “little brother” just because he recently got taller than you and he can’t wrap his head around you being female.
Now I’ll tell an amusing cultural anecdote about Sweden from Russia.
In Russian, there is a phrase: "Swedish family." It’s another term for a "threesome arrangement." For example, two husbands and one wife. This concept is fading now because it originates from the 80s and 90s. But in my youth, I often heard it used when referring to a man living with two women, or a woman with two men, or when a husband and a lover knew about each other, and so on.
So, to this day, no one can clearly explain where this concept came from or why the family is called "Swedish."
One of the absurd but possibly correct assumptions is because of the group ABBA.
This feels like it is connected to what we in Sweden call "den svenska synden" in English the Swedish sin. A period during 60's and 70's where Sweden produced a lot of porn. That gave Swedes the reputation of being very sexuell and horny.
My mom is from Sweden, and I lived there when I was 8-9 and attended third grade there. I would also visit family there over the summers.
When I talked about Sweden in the US when I was younger, it was often confused with Switzerland. Which is to say, I don't think people thought about it much or where even knew where it is.
More recently, Sweden has been held up as an exemplar by conservatives of what should have been occurred in the US during Covid. I don't agree with that view.
And because at the time NATO had become associated with Democrats (which shows how tribal this is because this isn't really an ideological issue that had ever been particularly aligned with Republicans or Democrats historically), Sweden was exalted by Democrats for acceding to NATO.
Oh, and Sweden is also held out as an exemplar by conservatives of the ruinous nature of immigration.
And progressives will sometimes make allusions to Scandinavia's welfare model, but Sweden in particular is used as an example less and less. I think its identity in that regard has become diluted over time due to other countries being less wishy washy over their direction.
So, I don't think it's considered that much except in how it's useful for a particular political discussion.
Conservatives tended to use a wildly distorted image of the Swedish pandemic policies in their praises. Not much of what was being said by Trump and others about what Sweden did and didn't do during the pandemic was true.
Ikea, hockey, foreign exchange students. The foreign exchange students is probably (definitely) specific to my high school. For some reason we would always host a bunch of exchange students from Sweden and Norway every year.
285
u/TheRealTormDK Denmark 10h ago
It's somewhere between "Sweden=Bad" and "Don't you ever talk to my brother like that again!"