Learning America Smarter: Northern European Geography 101
I was quite troubled to realize today that I couldn’t list ten major differences between Sweden and Norway. All my best Livejournal pals lent a hand and we came up with this not-entirely-comprehensive list:
Finland is so awesome it did not need to be differentiated, but I thank Suomi for helping to make an excellent indie rock joke.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Dude, sauna is the core of the Finnish identity. Definitely naked.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m pretty sure “Naked Saunas” are Norwegian too, based on the Norwegian-Americans I know.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Awesome Finland/Australia diagram, but I agree with Juri: Sauna is Finnish as … hm… Sibelius!
February 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Nobel prize=Sweden
February 8th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
(Ignore me – I was thinking of the non-peace Nobel prizes, such as Literature etc.)
February 8th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Xeni is the best kind of blogger. She mirrors the image for you so that it doesn’t murder your server!
Norway vs. Sweden on teh BingBong.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Cally, I almost made the same mistake!
February 8th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
So, when is the t-shirt coming out? With “sauna” properly accounted for, of course?
February 8th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hey hey hey, Santa Claus is Finnish!
And AIH is awesome. love
February 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Is it possible for there to be one day where someone doesn’t mention that wanker, Warren Ellis? Its enough to make a guy want to stop reading online comics and BoingBoing altogether.
February 8th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hey, Sweden has Thor, too. (As does Iceland. And Denmark, but who cares?)
We also have fjords, but that’s a technicality.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I guess someone won an award for the fjords too…
February 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Call me dense – and perhaps I need to be ‘learned’ – but I don’t get the Finnish Australia thing at all. Please explain.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Santa Claus actually lives in Finland. :\ The Peace Prize IS in Norway, don’t believe whoever said it was in Sweden. Norway also has the cleanest/best drinking water in the world; Sweden may be in the top ten, not sure. And I think both countries used to be ruled over by Denmark until they kicked Denmark’s ass–don’t tell that to any Danish people you meet in the streets.
Finland basically owns saunas as well. The Swedish men love Thai girls, I’ve heard: 10 million Swedish visitors to Thailand in a year–but only 9 million Swedes, period.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Carlos- Architecture in Helsinki is a really neat band from Australia, hence the diagram overlapping it with Finland.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Don’t forget a few more things to stick in under Finland:
Nokia
Linux/Linus Torvalds
Nightwish
February 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Phillip Karlsson is pretty much the best Swedish export ever. Besides the SAAB Viggen fighter plane, anyway. Kinda hard to beat a supersonic killing machine.
Yes yes, I know Phillip is a killing machine, but he’s not SUPERSONIC, you see.
I like him better than my furniture, which is 90% IKEA.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
What about the Vikings???
February 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Duhhh……didja forget about Volvos & Saabs ?
and herring…..common to all three
and geeze…YOU FORGOT the AQUAVITE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 8th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Volvo = Swedish
February 8th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Volvo= owned by ford and soon to be sold to an Indian company, take that Sweedish nationalists!
February 8th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo, the rest are in Sweden.
Volvo also makes trucks, buses, jet engines and turbines, always made mor emoney than the cars…that bit stays Swedish. Same with SAAB…the plane and defence bit is Swedish the car bit is owned by GM.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Norway has dead whales!
February 8th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hey we still own Volvo lorries! Or maybe we sold those as well? Probably!
Sweden wants to take credit for a lot of things though such as
zippers
celcius
Carl Von Linné & classification system
Alfred Nobel & his dyno-mite
Pippi Longstocking
Tetra Pak
ball bearings
propellers
turbo engines
blah blah blah
All Northern Europeans share the midnight sun and SAD though.
Will this be a shirt? I would love to have one I think!
February 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Zugale… is that a challenge?
February 8th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Im from Finnland and i as a neighbourlander of sweden this chart has more flaws than a normal Uwe Boll movie… for crap sake give us even our rightful ownership over sauna and santa claus… we have even got a place called Santas Workshop in ‘Korvatunturi’ (loosely translated ear hills) and though sauna is suspected to be originally from Russia it is now a essential part of Finnish culture… i probably go to sauna four times a week and i have never (and i never will) bathe dressed. That would totally lose the point of going anyway.
February 8th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’m from one of the smaller countries up there… I didn’t know dressed saunas existed.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:27 am
DEATH METAL 4 EVER
Finns are also excellent at melodic death metal, which is basically 1/2 way there to black metal.
February 9th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Um… I hate to join in the Pro-Finnish chorus, but whataboutthegoddamned MOOMINS?!?!
they’re surely the best thing about Finland, short of the Leningrad Cowboys?
February 9th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Oh yes, and Skype is also Swedish I think.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:24 am
There are nobel prices in Norway very soon too right? Where is the Norwegian King waiting for?
February 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Lordi wins the Euro-Song Contest for Finland and they don’t get a mention! What kinda chart is that? “Rockalypse!” 3evah!
February 9th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Why look for differences between Norway and Sweden? Those two countries are more alike than most other countries on their own (!). Simply listing different companies/institutions doesn’t cut the cheese at all, I’m sorry to say.
The only difference that springs to mind is that Norwegians bring a bagged lunch for their 30-minute lunch “hour”, whereas the Swedes eat a hot meal and have full-length lunch hours. Oh, ok, maybe another thing as well. Norway is very USA-oriented, whereas Sweden traditionally have strong bonds to Germany (many German queens in Sweden, e.g. the current).
Oh, and the best way to annoy a Swede is to stand on the wrong side of the escalator (ordning och reda/Ordnung muß sein).
February 9th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Norsk: Yes and to ignore the almighty queue. Don’t forget that. That happened to me today when buying groceries (as we have skidskytte VM in my town of Östersund and therefore lots of tourists who don’t know about our ordning å reda). I was completely beside myself and didn’t know what to do. I stood there confused and speechless for awhile. Talk about being brainwashed by culture!
February 9th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Ah yes, the queue… We haven’t quite grasped the concept of queues in Norway. A Norwegian queue substitute is more like a slow stampede.
So that’s another difference…
February 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I wouls recommend Psalmer från köket. It is a nice film that illustrates some of the subtle differences in Norwegian and Swedish culture.
February 9th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Yes, lots of German queens here. Makes ze gay scene so much more exciting.
Chalk up another thing for Norway: hilariously pricey food. A bowl of soup is $50 and a slap in the face. Well, almost. $20 for a pizza, and that’s when you pick it up yourself.
February 9th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
$50 for a bowl of soup? You have been severely ripped off, my man. Not even the restaurants boasting stars in the Guide Michelin will charge as much for their soup.
February 9th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
There is one thing missing: Norway sucks. In so many ways.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Sauna on Suomesta! / Sauna is from Finland!
Does one think it odd to take a shower naked? I certainly wouldn’t wear clothes in the shower, so why in sauna?
February 9th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yes, I’m a little curious too. Saunas are HOT, who the hell wears cloths in those? Mind you I never whip myself with birch leaves in the sauna, although I’m sure that’s stimulating.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:48 am
Hilarious!
But the Nobel prize(s) should be on the Sweden side.
And you should add somewhere the favorite American past time of confusing Sweden with Switzerland.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:49 am
P.S. Skype is originally Estonian.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:53 am
P.P.S. Ignore my comment about the Nobel PEACE Prize – you learn something new every day.
You could also add something about Sweden belonging to the EU, while Norway is financially like a Scandinavian Kuwait. People go to Sweden just to buy groceries at the “discount” prices.
And Norway: cruise lines!
And Sweden: Ace of Base (but yes, you already have Abba)
February 10th, 2008 at 7:41 am
I would say that people who wears clothes in saunas are the real hardcore!
February 10th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Oh, one more thing. If you do not add “lagom” to the Swedish circle you may as well take the whole thing down.
February 10th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
yeah, norway has dead whales, about 600-1000 each year. but then there are about 130 000 living ones and the annual increase is bigger than the number lost in the annual hunt. and that’s just of the minke whale species alone. the rest of the whale species are left alone for now. you’re still entitled to find whaling bad, fine with me. but look at the numbers. even with permitted whaling norway still beats the results of conservation efforts elsewhere.
yeah and I second Rene Engstrom’s need for having “lagom” in the Swedish circle. hopefully someone can post an explanation of what it actually means.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
When did Australia become part of Northern Europe? Did we intend to include Austria? Yes, it is a common mistake for those from the US, Australia does have ‘Architechture in Helsinki’ but we are from Southern Asia, in the Pacific, the other side of the world from EU and the differences are great. Ah, while I am complaining, it’s ABBA not Abba and Bjork is not an Island.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
come on, bjork is totally an island.
and a rock feels no pain.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Lagom has no direct translation, but it means roughly “just enough”. This is from wikipedia:
The value of “just enough” can be contrasted to the value of “more is better.” It is viewed favorably as a sustainable alternative to the hoarding extremes of consumerism: “Why do I need more than two? Det är [It is] lagom” (AtKisson, 2000). It can also be viewed as repressive: “You’re not supposed to be too good, or too rich” (Gustavsson, 1995). The lagom mentality has been fingered as a challenge to economic growth and the reason for Sweden’s apparent lack of outward patriotism.
In a single word, lagom is said to describe the basis of the Swedish national psyche, one of consensus and equality. In recent times Sweden has developed greater tolerance for risk and failure as a result of severe recession in the early 1990s. Nonetheless, it is still widely considered ideal to be modest, avoid extremes, and seek optimal solutions. “My aunt used to hold out her closed fist and say, ‘How much can you get in this hand? It’s much easier to get something in this [open] hand” (Silberman, 2001). “It’s the idea that for everything there is the perfect amount: The perfect, and best, amount of food, space, laughter and sadness.”
The concept of lagom is similar to that of the Middle Path in Eastern philosophy, and Aristotle’s “golden mean” of moderation in Western philosophy.
February 11th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Sweden also produced a girl called Victoria Wolff. She’s the worst.
February 11th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Awesome illustration, but the original sauna is Finnish, and Santa isn’t Norwegian. Good work anyway.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Sweden doesn’t have lutefisk as far as I know – that’s all norwegian, together with smlahove (smoked sheeps head). the Swedes have surströmming instead. And Santa Claus is American, but Norway does have ‘nisser’ which have Santa Claus-like headwear. They also get angry and cause mischief unless you give them porridge around christmas. And Sweden hass fjords? Ha! I laugh at your puny swedish fjords! Finally Sweden was never a part of Denmark as such, but parts of it were. Parts of it were also part of Norway once. But they were on the winning side in the Napoleonic wars and grabbed Norway from the Danes after that.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Kudos for the interest in Scandinavia btw – makes me all warm and fuzzy inside…
February 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Ossy, We have lutfisk, I just don’t think we eat it as often. But for some goddamn reason it’s always on the julbord. Blää! Oh well rather that than sur-jävla-strömming, which is probably the world’s most disgusting food ever concocted.
My province was once Norwegian (Jämtland) and you can hear it in certain dialects like in Härjedalen.
I am also warm and fuzzy from this attention to Scandinavia even though it’s caused quite a debate!
February 11th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Man, it makes me happy to see people talking about this!
February 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
R Stevens, you don’t know what you got yourself into here.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I vote for the uncorrected version of the shirt. 99.99% of the people you run into won’t know or care about the differences… and anyways we need more infighting among the scandinavians.
Here is my contribution to the bonfire: mySQL is Finnish!
February 12th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Um… Did someone already mention the swedish blondes?
February 12th, 2008 at 7:24 am
reply to Rene Engström: sur-jävla-strömming cannot be the most disgusting food, because finnish “mämmi” has taken that spot from warm monkey brains long time a go.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Miika have you ever eaten (or rather smelled) surströmming? It is slimy, fishy diarhea in a tin. I just looked up mämmi and that is chocolate pudding in comparison.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Apparently surströmming is considered lethal according to some major airlines. Ha! Take that memma!
February 12th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Three more cool things about Finland:
Värttinä
Laika and the Cosmonauts
Helsinki Complaints Choir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATXV3DzKv68)
February 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
my friend’s sister’s boyfriend studied architecture in Helsinki one year. no joke.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Finland has death and black metal too!
err well had it, up till about ‘93, pretty sure Norway never had a huge Death metal scene but otherwise lol,
February 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Santa Claus is so not Norwegian, and neither Swedish either!
He was originally a Greek Bishop living in modernday Turkey. This was untill we Dutch decided that he should come from Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas
February 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Among the normal awesome music that comes from finland (Children of Bodom, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica etc…) Finland also has the notable award of on the first time they won the Eurovision Song Contest (2006) it was by a hard rock group (first time a hard rock group has ever won) and also scored the highest score in the contest ever of 292 points. This group, of course, is the EXTREMELY addicting hard rock quintet Lordi. That is all that i know about Finland…for the most part.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Geez, R. You got tore up on this one. Why weren’t these frigid folks policing your LJ?
Looks like it calls for a DSB diagram ver 2.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
What about the Swedish Bikini Team? They were rather more fundamental in my upbringing as a child of the 80s than I would like them to have been…
February 15th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
so, this would make a pretty awesome design for a shirt.. I mean, I’d buy one.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:36 am
If we’re trying to differentiate Sweden and Norway (I think Finland should be added), then you HAVE to give Norway oil (and dead whales and clubbed seal cubs). While Swedes love sauna, that really belongs to the Finns. The core word to describe Swedes is, as has been said, Lagom. The story about the word it that it means “the whole team” and comes from viking times when one stoop/horn of mead was passed around the table. How much should each person drink? enough so that it would last around the table or “laget om” in Swedish.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Fredrik. That whole “laget om” has no basis in fact whatsoever and is mere speculation. Most experts dismiss that theory. That doesn’t subtract from the fact that Swedes are obsessed with fairness and everyone getting the “just right” amount. Yes. Please. ADD LAGOM.
February 18th, 2008 at 7:17 am
To the poster above: Skype is Estonian, not Swedish!
February 19th, 2008 at 6:53 am
According to all references I can find, skype was founded by a Swede and a Dane… maybe the company is based out of Estonia?
March 19th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
ABBA is technically 1/4 Noregian, since Frida (Anni-Frid, one of the A’s, the one without the nightmare inducing blue eyeshadow) was born there (though moved to Sweden as a kid). That would be interesting to represent graphically…
April 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Sweden had Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall who did a swell 10 book Mystery/Police Procedural series featuring Martin Beck who reminds me of Indy Rock Pete in an odd way …
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
[...] Link to the article (incuding full size illo which can actually be read) here. [...]
October 30th, 2009 at 12:44 am
[...] Naturally, the latter thought derailed me from finishing said list, and brought me in mind of the following hilarious map of Norway v. Sweden that was compiled by a similar chain of musings on Diesel Sweeties: [...]