Tag: gothenburg

Advent Calendar – Dec 9: Julbelysning

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Every day, I will open a window containing a Swedish word that has something to do with Christmas and the festive season.

Today’s word is ‘Julbelysning‘ which translates as ‘Christmas lights’.

Like others around the world, Sweden’s cities and towns install public Christmas lights this time of the year. These decorations illuminate the dark December days and are an important part of building up the Christmas cheer at an otherwise miserable time of the year.

Currently Stockholm is populated with twinkling elk, reindeer, pine cones, angels, stars and fir trees. The same applies to Gothenburg, where there is also a giant red love heart on Lejontrappan. In Malmö, 1000,000 lights have been switched on and a festival called Vinter i City (Winter in the City) lasts for a month up to Christmas. More information on http://www.ilovegoteborg.se and http://www.malmo.se

Since 1996, on Skeppsbron in Stockholm, the city’s largest Christmas tree has been positioned. An enormous, impressive tree that towers over the buildings of the Old Town and spreads its light over the harbour. The tree in actual fact isn’t a real tree – it is constructed over a central pole with branches attached to it. In doing so, the tree is pleasingly symmetrical.

If you’d like to walk around and see the lights in Stockholm, the city has produced a map which you can find on http://www.stockholmsjul.se

This week is also Nobel week in Stockholm and a light festival called Nobel Lights is taking place. Monuments and buildings around the city are decorated and transformed with projected light shows. More information on http://www.nobelweeklights.se

Why Gothenburg is better than Stockholm

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

I’m currently in Sweden’s second city – Gothenburg – on the country’s west coast.

Home to 600,000 people, Gothenburg isn’t huge but the rivalry towards Stockholm seems to be. So out of curiosity I googled ‘what’s so good about Gothenburg‘ and I stumbled upon an article entitled ‘10 reasons why you should visit Gothenburg over Stockholm.‘

These are the reasons it cited. What do you think? Is there truth in it? Is Gothenburg better?

  • It’s cheaper
  • It’s less crowded
  • It’s closer to the continent
  • Better seafood
  • A better theme park
  • Better independent cafes
  • Better football
  • The music scene
  • The Way Out West festival
  • The people are nicer

If you’d like to read the article, here’s the link:

10 reasons to visit Gothenburg over Stockholm

Groan-worthy Swedish humour in the city of Gothenburg

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Humour is one of the things that often doesn’t translate too well interculturally. Sarcastic, ironic humour is one example – which can be perceived as rude by other cultures. The British style of self-deprecating humour is often seen as incomprehensible by others who take it literally.

But the biggest type of humour that doesn’t translate is the pun. Because it is language based, it simply doesn’t translate linguistically.

In Sweden, the west coast city of Gothenburg is known for its puns. The humour is based on witty plays with words, the more groan-worthy the better. In English, we refer to these as Dad jokes – pun-filled quips that make every child’s eyes roll and every father’s heart fill with pride and accomplishment. No matter how bad they are, these jokes always manage to get at least a chuckle out of us. Maybe deep down we actually think they’re funny, or maybe we just love to see our dads smile because they made us laugh. Here are a couple of Gothenburg jokes, which simply don’t translate…

‘Which country has the cheapest meat?’

‘Ko-rea’ (Cow sale)

‘What noise comes out of a court?’

‘Rättsväsendet’ (Word for judicial system, but also translates as justice hiss’)

So, as these didn’t translate. Let me present you with some of the best English dad jokes that would make any Gothenburger proud.

1. ‘Why don’t crabs give to charity?’

‘Because they’re shellfish’

2. ‘I got hit in the head with a can of Diet Coke today. But don’t worry, it was a soft drink.’

3. ‘A ham sandwich walks into a bar. Sorry, says the bar tender, we don’t serve food here.’

4. ‘How do you make an octopus laugh?’

‘With ten tickles’

5. ‘My wife asked me to sync her phone. So I threw it in the ocean.’

And my own dad’s favourite joke that he used to say every time we went past a cemetery –

‘You know that’s the dead centre of town. People are dying to get in there.’

Do you know any Gothenburg puns? Please share them!

Sweden’s ‘best coast’

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

The town of Gothenburg is located on Sweden’s west coast, or the ‘best coast’ as the locals competitively call it in an attempted poke at Stockholm which is on the east coast. Spending a day here, it’s easy to feel the constant presence of the sea. Many of the streets have sea-related or harbour-related names and on the menus around town are a plethora of fish and seafood specialities: hand-peeled shrimp, freshly caught cod and classic fish gratin amongst them. At the top of the main restaurant stretch, known as Avenyn, is a statue. This statue is the grand figure of Poseidon, created by Swedish sculpter Carl Milles. There Poseidon stands in all his naked glory, willy dangling, fish in one hand, guarding the city of the sea. 

The city is currently packed with thousands of tourists, mostly in football gear. This week sees the annual event of the Gothia cup, a football competition for youths that attracts teams from all over the world. 

Gothenburg strikes me as a proud place. Proud of its unique position, proud of its role as Sweden’s second city and, not least, proud of its strong nautical heritage.