Aspiring Swedish stand ups take note; Oredsson explains there are certain subjects that are off limits. “It’s okay to joke about the king being dyslexic,” he says. “But saying the same about the Crown Princess is not allowed. He’s safe on his throne but she’s young and vulnerable.” Bonus fact: “lök på laxen” is the negative equivalent of “ grädde på moset” (cream on the mash). Putting cream on mash makes it taste better, but onion on salmon, we can all agree, is gross. Two Swedes are walking along a street when one of them says to the other, “look, a dead bird!” The other looks up into the sky and says, “where?” The CEO of IKEA was just elected Prime Minister of Sweden. The first thing he'll do is to assemble his cabinet. But does it also make speakers in countries with more of a focus on entertaining their colleagues leave out information and context that is important, but, well, a bit boring?

Here are some example questions. We’ll start with an obvious one first: “Do you know what Volvo means in Latin?” (Answer yes, you get points. Answer no, points deducted.) A man goes to the beach and sees a woman with no legs and no arms, crying by the shoreline. He asks her what ́s wrong. US sitcoms are also popular but it’s the archetypal British satire that has endured. “Fawlty Towers and Monty Python are as popular today as they ever were,” he adds. Unsurprisingly, Engman cannot provide an academic explanation for the appeal in Sweden of The Benny Hill Show. A fartdåre is someone who has a need for speed and usually annoys the pants off of everyone they meet. I don’t make the rules.Another food related idiom, if a Swede tells you you’re going to get your fish warm, you’re in for some bad news.

Danes and Swedes both like to claim tongue-in-cheek that the Norwegian word for shark is kjempetorsk, which means "giant cod", or that the word for "popcorn" is eksploderende majs, literally "exploding maize" . Polar bears? No. They aren’t native to Sweden so this is a bit of a mystery. We have brown bears in Norrbotten and in Lapland people rub shoulders with the increasing bear population daily. But in the large cities? No, no bears. As in many cultures, foxes get a raw deal in Swedish. Having a fox behind your ear is an abstract way of telling someone they are sly or likely to pull one over on you.Joking about Swedes is not only a regional Nordic matter but constitutes a genre in itself, even in Hollywood — google YouTube for “Swedish chef” and you’ll find innumerable clips from the once popular children’s educational programme Du har inte alla hästar hemma eller? = “You don’t have all your horses in the stables do you?” (questions if someone has lost heir marbles, so to speak) A Swede was reading the phonebook, "Forsberg... Forsberg... Forsberg... It's incredible how many phone numbers that guy has." Lastly, a gross but funny Swedish saying. Sorry to finish on this note, but if someone’s laid a pizza, then they’ve puked. There’s no nicer way to say it. Sofi Tegsveden Deveaux, an expert on intercultural communication at Bee Swedish, believes Swedes can be reluctant to come across as too funny, as this might be seen as seeking to outshine colleagues.

There ́s no way she believed you!” He shakes his head again. “How old did you tell her you were, then?” Although relations between the two countries have improved over the years, there's still a lot of bad blood between Finland and Norway. It's called Sweden.Swedes do, on average, work fewer hours than other nations. Sweden trialed shortening the working day to just six hours a day and, unsurprisingly, people loved it. More time with family and friends, outdoors or just chilling out. Productivity also increased. However, most Swedes still work 40 hours a week. In Sweden, wages are typically higher than in other places. It’s up to employers to pay workers a decent living wage, so these workers don’t have to rely on fluctuating amounts of tips to keep a roof over their heads. Der Deutschlehrer fragt Bini: “Was ist das für ein Fall, wenn du sagst: Das Lernen macht mir Freude?” Bini überlegt nicht lange: “Ein seltener, Herr Lehrer.” 4. Husbands hate shopping in every language, apparently