There is a nice French word for standing in line waiting for something: »queue«. In the French origin it means »tail« and in the past it would even describe a »penis« (12th century). It derives from the Latin dialectal word »coda« which means »tail«, too.
»Queue« is a cool example on how the Germanic languages adapt loan words into their own system.
TheEnglish language adapted the complete word without changing the spelling, BUT totally changing the pronunciation.
TheSwedish language adapted the complete word as well, though it doesn’t look like the origin. To maintain the French pronunciation, they changed the spelling.
TheGerman expression for »the line you stand in waiting« is »Warteschlange« and literally translated means »waiting snake«. There is no verb in the German language like in English »to queue« or in Swedish »att köa«. In German you have to say you »stand in snake« or »wait in snake«. But Germans also know the word »queue«, it is a »billiard cue«.
Trivia: Did you know that queueing is not normal at a bus stop in Germany? While the first person that arrives at a bus stop in Sweden or in England establishes the queue, there is no similar behavior in Germany. When a bus arrives at a stop, all people run towards the entrance, irrespective of the order of appearance at the stop. The Germans have a very cool name for the picture that establishes, when everybody runs towards the door. They call it »human bunch of grapes« (Menschentraube = knot of people).
Today is »Shrove Tuesday«, called »Faschingsdienstag« in German or »Fettisdagen« in Swedish. It is the day before the lenten season begins.
Where do these three completely different names come from?
1st ENGLISCH: The word »shrove« comes from the word »shrive«. Shrove Tuesday is the day of self-examination for many Christians. They check on what is wrong and how they can avoid this in the future. With God’s help they try to deal with it for the whole lenten season, which ends Eastern.
2nd GERMAN: »Faschingsdienstag« means literally »Tuesday of carnival« and concludes the week of big carnival celebration at midnight. In some regions of Germany the day is also called »Fastnachtsdienstag« and means »Tuesday of fastening night«.
3rd SWEDISH: »Fettisdagen« means literally »The Fat Tuesday« and stands for the permission to eat everything and as much as you like before the period of abstinence will start tomorrow.
Do you know the Semla? It is the traditional pastry that can be found everywhere in Sweden today and is eaten by millions.
»Sportlov« literally means »sport holiday« or »Sportferien« in German. If you use an ordinary translator it is often translated as »winter holidays« or »ski holidays«. Apparently it is a holiday in the winter season and it has the appreciation for doing winter sports.
In Sweden the Sportlov starts for some communes in the 7th week and ends in the 11th for others. Today is the 9th week of the year and Stockholms län’s pupils (greater area of Stockholm) have the pleasure of an entire school free week.
How did that come about? Due to a shortage of coal, which was the main heating device in the 1940s it got necessary to save energy. So the government decided to establish a school free week for children but also to offer many outdoor sport activities as compensation.
Later in the 1950s also the infection rate increased during the harsh Swedish winters and that was another reason to close schools to avoid contamination.
Today the Sportlov still exists but lost its primary meaning for saving energy. The tourist offices of Sweden offer a wide variety of activities not necessarily winter sports for outdoors. Also many Swedish families use the week for vacations abroad.
Der Semla (Pl.: Semlor) ist ein schwedisches Traditionsgebäck bestehend aus Hefeteig mit Kardamom gewürzt.
Nachdem der Semla gebacken ist, wird ein Deckel abgeschnitten und eine Schicht Mandelmassa (süße Marzipan-Masse) inklusive Schlagsahne in das Loch gegeben. Der Deckel wird wieder drauf gesetzt und mit Puderzucker bestreut.
Der Semla ist eine echte Kalorienbombe, die man traditionell zum Faschingsdienstag (Fettisdagen) verzehrte, um die Fastenzeit einzuläuten. Früher durfte man sich darüber hinaus während der siebenwöchigen Fastenzeit jeden Dienstag einen weiteren Semla (damals allerdings noch ohne Füllung), in warmer Milch gequollen, gönnen. Heute, mit dem Verlust der Bedeutung der Fastenzeit und der Kommerzialisierung des Gebäcks, wird die Semla-Jahreszeit bereits vor dem offiziellen Beginn der Fastenzeit in Bäckereien und Supermärkten gestartet. 40 Millionen Semlor werden so jährlich in Schweden verkauft.
Zur Wortherkunft: Semla hat eine Wortverwandtschaft zum deutschen »Semmel«. Beide Worte sind auf die lateinische Wurzel »simila« für »feines Weizenmehl, Brötchen« zurückzuführen. Semlor waren zu Beginn, als noch keine Füllung ihren Charakter ausmachte, den deutschen Semmeln nicht unähnlich.
Runestone nr 213. Sweden, Östergötland, Linköping, Västerlösa.
The grave lid is decorated with runes as well what may be animal ornamentations. According to linguist Erik Brate, the material is gray granite but have later be determent to be limestone. It was found in 1729 when a graveyard was opened on the Church lands.
Unknown when the runes were to be made but may be late viking age 9000 - 1100 A.D.
If you are living in Sweden and have a kid, or if you are studying yourself, you already know this. But otherwise you might not, so here we go.
This week is what is known as sportlov or sportlovsveckan (in Stockholm, every region has their own)
Sport = Sport
Lov = Permission / Leave
Vecka = Week
This does not mean this is the only week when you have permission to do sports of course. It is a week when students have “lov” (leave AKA holidays), and the main argument behind it is to go do sports.
Not just any kinds of sports, winter sports of course! Sportlovsveckan should be by definition, the coldest week of the year. Which normally means that there is lots of snow all over the place. Making it troublesome to go to school. And the perfect opportunity to do some skiing, pulka, or whatever sport you enjoy.
The song is called “Ja, må du leva” (yes, may you live). You often replace the “du” for “han” (he), “hon” (she), or “hen” (gender neutral).
The song is about hoping that someone lives to 100 years… and then suggesting different ways of violently killing them. But then changing it to something more innocent that sounds similar. It’s a play on words. Nowadays, nobody sings the whole thing. For the most part, everyone just sings the first, child friendly, part. But we can take a deeper look into it just for fun.
Ja, må du leva! x2 (Yes, may you live!)
Ja, må du leva uti hundrade år! (Yes, may you live until you are 100 years old)
Javisst ska du leva! x3 (Of course you shall live!)
… uti hundrade år! (until you are 100 years old!)
Here is where it usually stops. And then the madness begins.
Och när du har levat x3 (And when you have lived)
… uti hundrade år! (until you are 100 years old!)
Ja, då ska du skjutas x3 (Yes, then you shall be shot/pushed)
… på en skottkärra fram! (… pushed on a wheelbarrow)
Most Swedes know up to here. So if they are feeling edgy, or drunk, they might continue up to here. But there are a lot more lyrics left.
Och när du har skjutits x3 (And when you have been shot/pushed)
… på en skottkärra fram (pushed on a wheelbarrow)
Ja, då ska du hängas x3 (Yes, you shall be hanged)
… på en häst bakåfram! (… on a horse backwards)
This one just has no recovery to the good side
Och när du har hängits x3 (And when you have been hanged)
… på en häst bakåfram! (… on a horse backwards)
Ja, då ska du dränkas x3 (Yes, then you shall be drowned)
… i en flaska champagne! (…in a bottle of champagne)
Och när du har drunknat x3 (And when you have drowned)
… i en flaska champagne! (…in a bottle of champagne)
Ja, ska du firas x3 (Yes, then you shall be celebrated)
Fettisdagen is finally here! But what is fettisdagen?
Fet = Fat
Tisdag = Tuesday
Fettisdagen can be translated to “The Fat Tuesday”
If you are living in Sweden you have probably seen images of Semla everyday in the past month in preparation for fettisdagen.
The semla is a Swedish pastry. The best part of the semla is the mandelmassa (a type of almond icing) which is not to be confused with marzipan. The semla is then topped with a mountain of grädde(cream).
The fettisdagen tradition started a long time ago as a preparation for the fasting that was to come the days after. Consume a lot of calories in advance to be able to withstand the fasting. That makes sense. But as many religious traditions in Sweden, they kept some parts (the fun ones) and some others were forgotten.
Fasting? Meh, who wants to do that?
An excuse for eating like a pig? Ja, tack! (Yes please!).
“Eleverna har i regel inte närmare reflekterat över eller förstått vad som är könsrollsbundna beteenden och förväntningar…./ As a rule, the students have not reflected more closely on or understood what gender-based behaviors and expectations are…”
I hate how white people invented the we don’t owe each other anything mindset
Someone from the Uk Here!
Maybe it was just how I was raised, but I was taught to clear off when dinner was being cooked like it was rude to hang around and expect to be fed by another person’s family unless you’ve been invited round specifically for dinner/lunch
Hi person with common sense that isn’t from the uk here i think the english are demonic
Whhaaat? My north african heart is aching. My parents would probably cut a piece of them to feed me and my friends than do this
As an Indian born in the UK, if my friend were over, we would always set a plate for them. As Indians, we made more food than we could eat to have loads for others. I even had my next-door neighbour’s son come over once to fix my tv, and he stayed for dinner. I been to friends houses where they let me stay over for dinner. I just think it’s being kind really.
German here. Growing up, when I was over at a friend’s house or they were at our place right after school, we’d always eat lunch together. If it was after lunch and they’d stay the afternoon, they/I would be picked up before dinner and eat with their/my family. For sleepovers it depended on the time of meeting. If it was past the ‘usual dinner time’ we would have eaten already when we met. But we’d always eat breakfast together. It honestly never happened that i was excluded from a meal while over at a friend’s house or the other way around that my family excluded a friend.
UK person here too. My whole life everyone i’ve known has made it very clear on whether a visit included a meal. When i was a kid playdates were either including the meal or it was pre arranged to be picked up before dinner. If i’ve ever had guests or visitors and its getting near mealtime, no matter what we were having they were always invited to stay, with the meal stretched to feed however many people were present.
Southern UK person (with almost exclusively Northern or Scottish family because unsurprisingly there seems to be a north/south cultural difference). If a child at the house was being fed I was fed too. And vice versa. All sleepovers included dinner from the host family unless explicitly specified in advance. I don’t think most people would have dreamed of not feeding a child in their care, and this extends to teenagers etc. I cannot remember ever going hungry at a friend’s house. Not to say it never happened, but if it did, I don’t remember it. If the family couldn’t have afforded to feed additional people then the sleepover probably wouldn’t have been initiated, or would have happened at my house?
If anyone comes over to my house now they would at minimum be offered tea and a biscuit and I would expect to provide them with food. Same seems to happen with my family and friends when I hang at their houses.
For me it’s not about being a Good Host or a Bad Host, it’s just… What happens when you have someone over. Same if someone comes over to fix the internet or shower or whatever. If they are going to be more than ten minutes they get offered tea/coffee. It’s what you do.
I would be extremely interested to know where these different European families fall in terms of broad religious affiliation, because in my experiences as a Jewish & South Asian person oft surrounded by white Christians, their denominations have a surprisingly strong impact on their relationship with sharing food (this rarely tends to be a factor with non-white Christians unless they’re like… superassimilated).
For example, (and again this is totally just observational and based on my personal experiences, it is not a scientific blueprint) white Catholics are usually pretty A+ about food sharing, especially French, Italian, and Polish Catholics. Irish and German Catholics are a little more hit-and-miss (I feel like it depends on whether the nuns made you bitter or not?), but Irish Catholics will at least have an open bar at a wedding, and mercilessly mock any Protestant wedding with a cash bar. Orthodox Greeks and Armenians? Also aces. Anglican/Episcopal people are more of a grey area, but at the very least in the UK they’ll always give you tea and biscuits to be polite. Lutherans will let you starve because deprivation is good for the soul, and besides, it would be shameful for you to accept charity, anyway. Evangelicals are a toss-up between “we’ll give you food to lure you in and convert you,” and “why do you need food when Jesus can sustain you.” White Baptists are an absolute fucking wildcard, depending on whether they have a sense of [US] “Southern Hospitality” or not (which I’m guessing was strongly influenced by Black American and Native foodways, tbh); they could make you starve, or they could insist you go home with 8 litres of mashed potatoes and gravy, and you just to be ready for either outcome. I haven’t had much experience with Quakers personally, but insert oatmeal joke here.
OMG
so I have no idea how this data was collected or how accurate it is, but I just saw this shared in the notes:
And um:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I grew up in Sweden, and I have zero memories of ever being excluded from a meal when I was over at a friend’s. Now, a lot of parents who made sure that the visitors were gone before dinner? Sure. But I had lots of impromptu sleepovers with friends, and their parents always fed me. Generally with the phrase “finns det hjärterum finns det sjärterum” which translates as “if there is heart room, there is butt room”, but basically means “if you care about someone, you find a way to make things work”.
Not denying anyone else’s experiences, I’m sure there are plenty people out there who would pull this… just that it’s not my experience.
