Hello world!

[zinnith]

Well, I'm sitting here in the heart of Sweden thinking about how ridiculously beautiful my home village is in the summer, (don't mention the winter please, I never want to spend another winter here for as long as I live) and listening to Sweden-Russia from the TV-room. And it made me wonder how the rest of the world percieve my country?

I think my f-list is pretty international, so I have a question for you all. When you hear the word 'Sweden' what do you think of? The Nobel prize? Hockey? Maypoles? Red little cottages?

Please satisfy my curiosity!

Comments

[justinej.livejournal.com]

Um, I'm old so I think of Abba!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, my first record was Abba! How can you not love cheesy seventies pop music?

[justinej.livejournal.com]

Sorry, cheesy? *looks really offended*

Abba is virtually classical music!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

*hides* Sorry!

(Though 'cheesy' is a compliment in my eyes... I mean, I watch Stargate...)

[justinej.livejournal.com]

OK, cheesy is not a compliment in this part of the world, but I'll believe you!

Sadly, I can't think of anything else that reminds me of Sweden at all. I've never been there. Been to The Netherlands and Denmark and Belgium, but not Sweden.

[lenyia.livejournal.com]

Well, I think about red little cottages :D And also ABBA and Astrid Lindgren and her books The Six Bullerby Children and Pippi Longstocking.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I actually live in a little red cottage right now! (Well, it's more like two stories with six huge rooms plus kitchen, but still...)

And Astrid Lindgren is one of my role models. She was such a cool lady and I cried when she passed away.

[lenyia.livejournal.com]

The cottages are very nice. I really love pictures of Swedish countryside. Well, maybe it's not the countryside, but you know, those little villages (towns) by the sea.

[annieb1955.livejournal.com]

I'm from Australia so for me Sweden means snow and skiing. Oh, Abba too, Pippi Longstocking and there was a book I read when I was a kid (can't remember the name) where a little Finnish (I think) girl was adopted and taken to Sweden to live. Loved that book.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Ah, I used to love skiing before my knees gave out on me! I don't recognise that book though...do you know the name of the author?

[annieb1955.livejournal.com]

No I don't unfortunately. I've been trying to find it again for years. I'd love to give it to my granddaughter, Blayze, to read. She's 8 which is about how old I was when I read it.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

The only one I can think of is 'Elina', but I think that was about a girl who got into trouble for speaking Finnish in school - it used to be forbidden. But I'll keep my eyes open in case I run into it!

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

When you hear the word 'Sweden' what do you think of?

You!!

What else? Well, Eurovision & Waterloo of course, and, yes, the Nobel, and ... would you hit me if I said the cook from the Muppets? *ducks*

cep xxx

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

*glomp*

We also can't play football worth a damn...

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I can hardly talk... we didn't even qualify!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I'm just glad I don't care about such things. I'm sure my dad and my sisters are very depressed right now!

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least you did better than the Greeks! Did stupid!cat enjoy the game or were you and your mum able to escape it this time?

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

No, I managed to escape and went for a long walk instead. The evening light is just amazing!

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Good choice! I love the long summer evenings. Were the cows talkative tonight?

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I took another route today so I got to speak to a bunch of sheep instead. They didn't have much to say and they wouldn't come close enough to let me take their picture so I think I prefer the cows...

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Would you considering adding a few cows to your diabolical herd of wildebeest?

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Yes! I'll train them to tip humans!

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! I'll remember to be very careful next time I encounter a cow... Although, if I promise to aid you in your quest for world domination, will they leave me alone?

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! You're on my list of favourite people who will get to enjoy the world after the revolution getting massages and being hand-fed peeled grapes by beautiful people of the gender of your choice.

We'll just have to stay away from Spain. I promised a friend of mine he could rule it, but he's decided to outlaw cheese.

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Excellent! When do we start? Spain with no cheese, huh? Okay, I can live with that. From where do you intend to rule? Perhaps a variety of courts in many exotic locations... *starts plotting*

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I think Vancouver would be a good place for a base - that way we can rule the SGA writers with an iron fist. Stargate-Atlantis will be rated NC-17 in the future, and so will Torchwood of course. I think we'll need somewhere warm to spend the winters though...

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes!! That right there is top priority. *g* Winter in Hawaii perhaps, for a year... and then maybe Australia? We will, of course, have to bring the cast with us - none of this 'season' business!!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... *dreamy sigh* And they will of course be required to...hrm...perform for us whenever we wish.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

snow and skiing - but that's because I love the Winter Olympics and all the Swedish participants in the sports I watch.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big fan of snow, but I used to love skiing! And curling. Curling is cool too!

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

well.... I live in Southern CA, USA, close to the ocean. No snow at all. So, I guess it's the fasination with this strange white stuff that actually falls from the sky! But yea, I went to college in a place that had winter.. and uhm.. yea, I would not want to live with snow/winter every year for months.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Up here the winters are very long and very cold *shivers*

[rellan.livejournal.com]

Lots of blondes. And ABBA.

rellan, South Carolina, USA

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Here's a well-kept secret: There are far less blondes here than you would think. And if you see one, she's most likely fake ;)

(No offense meant to the real blondes, of course..)

[propinquitine.livejournal.com]

When I hear/think "Sweden", my first thought is "the middle one", left over from when I tried to improve my understanding of world geography, and kept getting tripped up by the three fingers of Scandinavia.

Then, I pretty much think "blue and yellow", because Ikea has indoctrinated me quite well (and that sends me down the thought-path of "most of my furniture" and "lignonberry jam" and "inexpensive breakfast" and "oooh, Swedish fish!").

And then I start thinking about Swedish copyright law, and The Pirate Bay, and that reminds me to go check on what your Parliament decided regarding that communications surveillance bill that was up for vote a few days ago, and I wonder what ramifications this will have for my ability to get episodes of Doctor Who before they air in the U.S.

So, sadly, very U.S.- and me-centric associations with "Sweden", at least on the tip of my brain. What should I think of?

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

There are no 'should's here, I'm just curious of what people do think of. But I think Sweden for me is awesome music (like The Ark and Oh Laura) and a relative queer-friendliness.

Yay for IKEA and Swedish fish! Have you tried pickled herring?

(They voted yes for the bill, unfortunately. *sigh* We have a bunch of very stupid people ruling the country at the moment. This is the same bunch of people who decided that the best way to get rid of the unemployment is not to create more jobs, but instead to make life hell for the unemployed.)

[psio03kx.livejournal.com]

Snow, Skiing and Hills? Heh I don't even pretend to know much about Sweden, sorry! ;)

I think im the only one who doesnt think of ABBA though heh ;)

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I don't think of ABBA either. But they were one of the first Swedish bands to get successful internationally, and they paved the road for everyone who came after, so we should be very grateful to them ;)

here via your fic site

[eveningblue.livejournal.com]

Just dropping by to tell you how much I LOVE "Entangled Particles" (just read it for the second time).

When I think of Sweden I think of Abba and Ikea. That's probably because I've been listening to a lot of Abba lately and also obsessing about how to furnish my apartment.

Listening to Abba I've noticed how the singers cannot pronounce the "z" sound--like in "zoo" or "loser"--and always pronounce it as a softer "s." This makes me wonder if perhaps there is no "z" sound in Swedish.

That's what I've been thinking about regarding Sweden lately. :-)