Posts written by Katja

Slickepott – The rubber scraper

Posted by Katja 7 Comments
Feb 8 2012

Ok, so I thought of another kitchen utensil which can be found in almost all Swedish house holds. I don’t know who invented this one, so it may very well not be a Swedish invention. That does not stop swedes from using it religiously however.

Kids love to help out with baking, wanting to clean the bowl with the “Slickepott” as the rubber scraper/spatula is referred to in everyday Swedish. The Swedish verb for “to lick” is “att slicka” and “pott” derives most likely from a word for a container or bowl of some sort. Meaning that the Slickepott is something that you can wipe the very last from the jar, bowl or saucepan.

Just the same as the Osthyvel, cooking and baking is not the same without this utensil. It feels like a total waste to leave a jar of jam with lots left in it just because the knife or spoon doesn’t fit. However, there is a colorful solution.

Can you think of any utensils which are specifically used in your country that Swedes would appreciate as presents?

IKEA gets sued by 5-year old girl’s family for discrimination?

Posted by Katja 3 Comments
Feb 2 2012

In Sweden it isn’t very common that people go round suing each other. But Monday this week the incident about the girl with a chromosome disorder who wasn’t let into the ball room due to “safety reasons” according to (Malmö’s) IKEA manager, was brought up again. The 5-year old girl was not allowed into the ball room which only had 2 other children playing in it, even though the mother offered to come inside too, as the adult responsible for the child. The staff at IKEA say they do not make judgements on the children’s communicative ability, even though in this case the seem to have done so.

This incident has been on the news, discussed in school classes all round Sweden and has in general upset a lot of people I think. To me, this gives a picture of what Sweden is like. What Swedes (or at least some of them) get worked up about. The fact that this story got a lot of attention on the news indicates something too I think.

Even though IKEA offered the family 20 000 Swedish crowns, the family have declined the offer and are proceeding to sue IKEA because they feel that the girls rights were totally violated and the way they were treated was completely unacceptable.

 

 

The cheese slicer – Osthyvel

Posted by Katja 12 Comments
Feb 1 2012

Do you know what this is? In Swedish it is called an Osthyvel.

It’s called a cheese slicer. This is in fact a Norwegian invention by Thor Bjørklund, who in 1925 is said to have been given cheese on a slice of bread for lunch. The had cheese melted before he had had a chance to eat it. Since he wanted to have thinner slices he looked around his carpenters workshop. The first attempt was with a knife, but to no avail. He then tried using one of his planes and it did the job, but he couldn’t store it in the kitchen and it was hard to use as well. So he made it smaller therefor becoming the inventor of today’s indispensable cheese slicer.

This kitchen tool is used every single day in Sweden, by millions of Swedes. Many are faced with a sort of culture shock when abroad and find their favorite way of eating cheese not available.  Many Swedes probably can’t even imagine cutting cheese with a knife. If you know any Swedes, ask them if they could even consider the thought?

The cheese slicer, even though it wasn’t a Swede who invented it, is a brilliant present for Swedes to give international friends as a thank-you for letting them stay at their place :)

 

Swedish swear words

Posted by Katja 8 Comments
Jan 27 2012

The first words many foreigners learn in a new language are usually swear words. I don’t think this is uncommon for anybody, no matter where you come from or what language you want to learn.

The point of this post is not to encourage swearing but to explain the degree of different swear words in Swedish vs. English.

In Swedish there are four “real” swear words. Jävlar, Satan, Fan and Helvete. All of these are religiously related words. Jävel (Jävlar), Satan and Fan are all synonyms for the devil. Helvete is the Swedish word for hell. All these have become down-toned over the years but can still not be used by politicians in public for example.

“Jävla bords-jävel”

“Damn table devil” To be roughly translated. Probably something you might say when having trouble with a table.

Excrement bases words are also common. For example; skit (shit) can be used not only as a swear word but as an emphasis like “very”. Skit-snygg (very good looking) or skit-ful (very ugly).

Then there are sex based swear words, which are the foulest of the used swear words in Sweden. Very many foreigners learn and over-use these without really understanding to what extent they insult somebody. These and words relating to ethnic background.

In Sweden however, F*** You is not at all as severe as in other, English-speaking countries, and even the Swedish equivalents are used a lot among younger people. This can be quite a shock for especially English speakers, when they hear young people, even kids, using the phrase without concern.

There are therefor many other, much less offending, words that you can learn instead. Honestly, who doesn’t need a couple of words to express the pain after stubbing your toe or something like that?!

The milder and mostly harmless (even among the grandparents) swear words are:

Swedish word / English literal translation (or as close you can get, feel free to give better translations if you know of any)

Fanken – darn

Fasiken – darn

Järnspikars också – iron nails

Söte göte – dear göte

göta petter – göta petter (Just a name)

Jösses – dear me

jäklar – darn

förgrymmat också – damn it

förbaskat (också) – darn it

tusan – shoot

förbövelen (this is yet another religious word but not as severe) – literally it means executioner

Sjutton också – sjutton means seventeen but religiously the number meant more than it does today

järnvägar – railroads

attans – darn

attans bananer – darn bananas

sjutusan – seven thousand

det var som sjutton – that was like seventeen (this is a pure literal translation since there are no English equivalents)

fy katten – darn cat

nedrans – darn

rackarns – shoot

hujeda mig – dear me

fy bubblan – my gosh

milda matilda – gracious Mathilda

Bomber och granater – bombs and grenades

These milder words were thought of because the first syllable is the same as many other more harsh words, giving the impression you are going to say something vulgar but changing your mind at the last minute.
Good luck, and try to chose appropriate language when speaking in Sweden ;)

“This” and “these”

Posted by Katja 6 Comments
Jan 19 2012

In Sweden there are lots of different dialects, and of course people use different words for the same thing. Something as simple as “this” you’ll find lots of variations of and for someone learning Swedish that can be a bit confusing. Especially if the word everybody is using in some areas is grammatically incorrect, and never before mentioned in a textbook.

Swedish English equivalent
 

detta

denna

det här

 this  
Swedish English equivalent
 

dessa

domma

de här

dom här

  these 

Domma is said especially around Jönköping and maybe Stockholm a little bit(?) but is found in other parts of Sweden as well.  This is not grammatically correct, but you will still hear many people say it.

So you know the en and ett rules by now right? Well, just to check. Table which is in Swedish bord. Ett bord, we do not say en bord. Detta and denna follow the same priciple, you would say “detta bord” and not “denna bord”. You could also say “det här bordet”.

Then to point out to somebody which tables you were meaning, you would say “dessa bord” meaning these tables (bord is a exception, we do not say bordar for several tables, we just say ett bord, flera bord. One table, several tables). The noun you use after “dessa” is in in-definitive plural form, like dessa stolar (these chairs) dessa dörrar (these doors) etc.

Domma is used when you are actually supposed to be using dessa.

De här is strictly speaking only supposed to be used in written language but when people talk they still pronounce it as de här. This is maybe illogical but we don’t say de här bord, instead we say de här borden. So we specify by using bord-en or for one table,  or det här bordet. Det här works for all nouns, regardless if it is a en or ett.

Dom här is used the same way as de här, so no worries there :)

Short dialog 

Ett par går runt i IKEA och tittar på bord.

A couple are walking round in IKEA looking at tables.

Person A) Dom där borden är fina.

Person B) Dom här? (pekar)

Person A) Nej, dessa. (pekar på ett annat bord)

Person B) Jaha. Ja, jag tycker om dom också.

Swedish English equivalent
 

bord

peka

fin (plu. fina)

annat

tycka (progressiv form; tycker)

också

jaha

  

table

to point

nice

other, different

to think, like

as well, too

oh

Next time you hear some Swedish see if you can hear the differences.

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