Growing up, I remember sex being a very embarrassing word. Until my early 20’s, it was a word I rarely used aloud. As I aged, it became a lot easier, but since it only referred to gender or intimate relations, there was no need to use it much. My experience isn’t unusual for someone in the US; a country where sex education is in many places now focused on abstinence only. Our puritanical roots show through in times like this.

Swedes view sex, the word anyway, much differently than we Americans. Imagine my surprise when I bought my son a counting book and read:

– Et
– Tvwo
– Trea
– Fyra
– Fem
– Sex…

Huh?!?  Sex??  In a children’s book???  That’s right.  Sex in Sweden is a word children use every day.  Sex in Sweden means “six”.  Strange, eh?  I think I’ve mentioned before in this blog that Swedes use English in ways that Americans would never consider. 

Okay then, no reason to be embarrassed when my toddler is shouting out his numbers on the tram. After all, sex is a perfectly innocent word in Sweden. Or is it?

In researching this further, I found out this isn’t the whole story. Sex doesn’t only mean six in Svenska. It also means sex, as in copulation. What?!? Are you surprised right now? Perhaps I shouldn’t have been, but I was dumbfounded.

Swedes definitely prove that they weren’t colonized by a religious group 😉

Just in case you want to practice your Svenska, I will close all the numbers from one to ten:

– Ett
РTv̴ (Sounds like tvwoo)
– Tre (sounds like tree-uh)
– Fyra
– Fem
– Sex
– Sju (pronounced like a guttural who —quwhoo—kind of)
– Ã…tta (like Oatuh)
– Nio
– Tio

Until next time…

This week I had a happy revelation when trying to translate a document we received in the mail.  One line said “Gift” and next to that was my name.  At first I thought, “Did the hubs order me a present?”  Nah.  He didn’t.  This was a credit document of some type.  That realization led me to my Google Translate app.  In the app you can take a picture of the document and it will translate quite a bit of it.  The word that popped up over “gift” was “married”.  Aha!  So, the Swedes think of marriage as a gift.  What a lovely sentiment…or so I thought.

By happy coincidence, that same night we were discussing family relations in my Svenska class. I asked the instructor if the word “gift” really did stand for marriage. She got a funny look on her face and quickly began sketching on the board. First, a heart. That was a good sign, and confirmed my earlier translation. Then…a bottle with a skull and crossbones on it. Poison!! Huh?? That’s right folks, the word for marriage is also the word for poison. Check out this screenshot from the official Google Translate website:

I think I mentioned once before that I suspect Sweden purposely uses English words in unorthodox ways. Maybe I’m wrong, but now I know to be careful when speaking about gifts, as my sentence last night indicated I was getting some poison and not that I was married. Oh well…

Until next time…

It’s time for another mini post! Welcome to Sweden, the land of food in a tube.

Wall o’ Tubes

These Swedes really like their food in a tube. Just check out the pictures from the grocery store. Do you see that? Metal toothpaste-like tubes, just waiting to fill your belly. There are so many flavors. You name it, they probably have it.

So, how in the heck do they eat this stuff? Good question! Swedes squirt this stuff on bread, crackers, in sandwiches…they really love the food in a tube.

Curious about how it tastes? Stay tuned for another episode where the entire family gets in on the sampling action 😃

Craving your own food in a tube?

In an effort to get more subscribers to this awesome blog, I will shortly be having a subscription drive! One lucky subscriber will get their very own food in a tube; mailed directly to their home…as long as customs allows 😉

Keep your eyes out for the announcement!

Until next time…