underground – Watching the Swedes

Travelling on the underground, I overhead a Swedish conversation between two people – one of them a spiteful 30-something woman. I say spiteful because she spent the entire journey demeaning and mocking their colleagues. It’s not often I hear such blatant malice so I became curious and listened carefully. Apparently, everyone in the office was a loser, annoying, boring and/or stupid. Nice person, I thought. However, one thing in particular triggered my curiosity.

As she spewed bile, she referred scornfully to one of their colleagues as ‘ you know Annika, she’s short, dumpy and wears office dresses’

What the hell is an ‘office dress’?!

I don’t care too much for that woman on the underground. But I do care about knowing what an ‘office dress’ is and why it’s degrading!

Can anybody can enlighten me, please do!

Deep under the bowels of Stockholm runs a comprehensive underground system taking travellers quickly around the centre and out to the suburbs. Stockholm’s underground (Tunnelbana) dates from year 1933 and consists of three lines: blue, red and green with all lines passing through the middle point of T-Centralen, Central Station. The underground is a perfect way to get around in a city where the climate can be challenging for half of the year. However, being tucked under the earth doesn’t mean a lost opportunity. In fact, Stockholm’s underground is said to be the world’s longest art gallery with 90 of the 100 stations being decorated with mosaic, paintings or sculptures. The blue line is by far the most interesting with eye-popping Kungsträdgården, Solna and Rådhuset being of particular interest.

Tag: underground

Swedish malice on the underground

Stockholm A-Z: Under ground city