Written by Andaç Baran
11 Mar 2016
Have you ever spent two hours in Wikipedia without doing anything but just clicking the random article button on the left-side menu? If you are a curious person, that button could make your life better. Apparently, Wikipedia also knows the value of the button and the organization developed a game called Wiki Game to make our lives more fun.
Random facts and information that we encounter in a daily life may seem irrelevant but they may also help us during a job interview or when we are playing Trivial Pursuit. Do not forget that the random facts listed below are just my personal facts, not academically correct ones: ).
The Size of Sweden
9.8 million inhabitants occupy the fifth largest country in Europe (After Ukraine, Turkey, France and Spain). If you were to swing Sweden round at 180 using the southernmost tip as the axis, you could reach central Italy. I am not sure that people who live in the north have suitable cloths for Italian weather.
If you are curious about Sweden’s nature and geography, check one of my previous blog posts.
Europe
For most Swedes, Europe starts on the other side of Copenhagen. Sweden joined the EU in 1995, although most of them would have preferred the EU to join Sweden on their terms. 🙂
99% of the Swedes are now soberly against the EU as it is no longer possible to buy tax-free spirits when travelling from one EU country to Sweden.
Swedish politics
Swedish people are mostly liberal, yet they always vote for the social democrats because they are also somehow economically conservative. Once, a Swedish friend said well: “the Swedes are a colorful people. They think blue, vote red, work black and eat green.”
000102
Swedes write the date backwards. It is one of weirdest thing. Year comes first, then month and then day. Nobody says the date that way, but Swedes are sure that it is the right way to write it. Everybody has a national registration number called Personnummer with ten digits based on the date of their birth and a four extra ones, such as 000102-0304.
If you are curious about personnummer, Check Alex’s blog post.
Snaps
Snaps is basically a religion with hundreds of practices and traditions. If you want to get the Swedes singing, then you should open a bottle of ice-cold snaps – which is the Swedish word for schnapps.
Here is an English transcription (without any meaning) of one of the most famous songs that I have found online. Find a Swede and sing along.
Hell and gore
Chung hop father Allan Allan lay
Hell and gore
Chung hop father Allan lay
Oh handsome inter hell an tar
Hand hell air inter half an four
Hell and gore!
(Now knock it back in one)
Chung hop father Allan lay
***
I will write more about my individual facts about Sweden, when I find more. Until the next blog post, you may write your own facts about Sweden or Swedish people.
Do not forget to give a comment.
