The world is one big 'blog'?

[Theocrat]

:( Well.. 4 days ago my my monitor gave up the ghost. And it gave a sound excuse to buy a new TFT 17" screen. Now I have more room on my computer table.
Then yesterday my primary harddrive crashed (someone's out to get me I know it), but a neighbour of mine helped me out and lent me a harddrive. *Cheerzz* But now my computer can't find the other (slave) Harddrive I have on my computer. :x
AnywayzzzZZzz I'm buying a new 120 GB HD tomorrow. :|

Now to some other weird stuff:

My brother told me about a friend of his who now works (something in IT)in the US (don't know the city or town though). He told them that the americans are driving him nuts.
They call him "The Angry Goose" because he questions things (swedes are very analytical I think) at work. Like why are there "Casual Fridays"?
"Why don't we dress like that all the time". The americans went went ape-shit.
And said that he should be thankfull that they at least get fridays.
And americans don't want to move or go outside their hometown.
If you where born there you stayed there till your six feet below ground.
If you wanted to go to another nearby town they asked "why".
He wants to return home anywayz...

Social differences are weird and funny sometimes.

Don't most americans think sweden (and europe) is practically commie.
When it in fact is social-liberal.

Anyone else who wants to point out differences like these?

Did you know swedes eat fermented fish?
They try to make visitors eat this crap when there's a get together at the dinner table.

http://www.goatview.com/august17sourherring.htm

Do the english eat fermented fowl?

[Jules]

Well we eat game, which can get quite rank and smelly before you cook it.

[EverKing]

I can't speak for all of the US, but haven't noticed any great tendancy for most people to stay where they were born. Sure, there are a good share, but I hardly think it is the prevailing attitude now days. Like with most things I'm certain it is a case-by-case basis...each person will have their own ideas.

Now that I think about it, though, I could see certain reasons why Americans from certain areas may not see a reason to go anywhere else. Take the New York City, for example, people who were born and raised in New York really don't have any pressing need to go anywhere else firstly because they haven't known anything else, and secondly because New York may offer the everything they would ever be looking for. Also, if you want to look at staying the same "area" where you were born, say the Mid-Atlantic states vs. the Midwest; moving from one to the other would be about the same as a European moving from country to another both in terms of distance and culture, excepting the language is largely the same.

I'm born and bred Minnesotan (and have no intention of staying here for my entire life, although I may end up retiring here, who knows) and a few years back I moved to Las Vegas. It was culture shock on the level of when I spent a couple weeks in France. I think that is something that many people from other parts of the world don't understand about the US; it isn't just a larger version of their country, it is a mis-mash of several cultural zones thrown together under one name. It can make it difficult to truly thrive in an area where you haven't spent much time.

Also, there is the sub-patriotism (for lack of better term)...people from each region, each state, and even each city, are fiercly loyal to their home. Admitedly this regional pride has been slowly dying out since the Civil War and in recent times the increased homogenization of the various American cultures perpetrated by mass media and popular culture has expidited this process. Still, in many area it remains...just ask a Texican how they feel about Texas, or ask a New Yorker about the rest of the US and you'll see it.

Well, I've rambled enough. I guess my point was that not all Americans want to die where they were born and those that do may just be misunderstood by foriegners.

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

Don't most americans think sweden (and europe) is practically commie.
When it in fact is social-liberal.

Sadly, most Americans don't know the difference. To many over here, if it isn't capitalist, it's communist. What can you expect from a country where people will wear a t-shirt with Che Guevera on it because it's "retro," despite the fact they have no idea who Che was. If they did, most of them wouldn't be caught dead in such a shirt.

Jay Leno does this thing where he goes out onto the streets of New York and asks the general public simple questions they really ought to know the answers to -- what year did Columbus land in America, for example. Whenever I watch this, I am contiunally blown away by how utterly stupid people can be.

Do the english eat fermented fowl?

Well, Dee described the wonders of the oh-so-British 'black pudding' to me and, well, ewwwwwwwww.

International cuisine is definitely fascinating, if not outright disturbing. Personally, I don't get the consumption raw and/or rotten fish. I don't understand how people eat organs -- skin included. And haggis? Are you freaking kidding me!? I mean, who was the first person to think, "You know what would be delicious? Ground-up guts and oatmeal boiled inside a sheep's stomach. Mmmmmmm."?

But then, we invented the atrocity known as McDonald's, so who am I to talk, right?

Oh, and the only reason I remain in the Seattle area is simply because the climate suits me and it's a remarkably beautiful place. I like trees, for example. Cacti, eh, not so much. If I had been raised in Minnesota, I'd still most likely be living in Seattle now (no offense EverKing :) Don't like snow much is all).

[Pietro_Mercurios]

So, whilst on holiday: one night I had a black pudding supper (deep fried black pudding in batter, with chips {proper, freshly chipped, deep fried potato}, slathered in salt & vinegar) and the next night, I had a haggis supper (ditto), both from the 'Cream Crim'. All washed down with either, IrnBru, or Curries Red Lemonade.

Great Stuff! :clap:

[Theocrat]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

Well, Dee described the wonders of the oh-so-British 'black pudding' to me and, well, ewwwwwwwww.

Hey! We eat something similar here too. Only difference is that ours has a bit less fat. Be we make that up with bacon and jam.
Yummy!

[DeeCrowSeer]

As I was saying to PWV, I used to live on black pudding and bacon sandwiches as a kid... which may explain how I got to be about 255 pounds! Eek! To be fair I usually picked the lumps of fat out, but the rest was just plain scrummy. I've had vegetarian haggis... I know, I know, that isn't really "haggis", but it was very nice whatever it was. :)

[L'Etranger]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

Don't most americans think sweden (and europe) is practically commie.
When it in fact is social-liberal.

Sadly, most Americans don't know the difference. To many over here, if it isn't capitalist, it's communist. What can you expect from a country where people will wear a t-shirt with Che Guevera on it because it's "retro," despite the fact they have no idea who Che was. If they did, most of them wouldn't be caught dead in such a shirt.

Gesundheit!
Just the same people who get upset when Europeans depict Americans as gun-slinging cowpokes in unabashed generalisation ...

B-t-w., about four years ago when the Che T-shirts hit off with the kids here, my daughter actually went to the library and got herself Che's Journal to read about who adorned her chest! Which I don't have in my bookshelf for some reason, but Marighela's Urban Guerrilla Handbook (which I bought to reduce the number of copies of this dangerous oevre on the market).

[Doc]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

Just the same people who get upset when Europeans depict Americans as gun-slinging cowpokes in unabashed generalisation ...

Have you been to Texas? :lol:

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

...about four years ago when the Che T-shirts hit off with the kids here, my daughter actually went to the library and got herself Che's Journal to read about who adorned her chest!

Well, better late than never, I say. Most of the people I know who own Che shirts wouldn't pick up a book much less read one. They bought the t-shirts for the "fashion," nothing more. I find it so ironic it hurts.

[Theocrat]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

...about four years ago when the Che T-shirts hit off with the kids here, my daughter actually went to the library and got herself Che's Journal to read about who adorned her chest!

Well, better late than never, I say. Most of the people I know who own Che shirts wouldn't pick up a book much less read one. They bought the t-shirts for the "fashion," nothing more. I find it so ironic it hurts.

Maybe it hurts both camps. :roll:

[Dibzva]

As a reluctant Englishman who's just moved to Sweden, I can say there are, in many ways, as many similarities between Sweden and the England as there are between England and the US.

The US and England share a common[-ish] language, sure, but there are a great many cultural differences. Sweden, while having a different[-ish] language, shares alot of our cultural quirks.

The Swedish have an old concept of "Jantelagen". Which is hard to describe, but is, basically a kind of socially accepted 'law' that states, "You are no better than anyone else. Don't presume to elevate yourself above anyone.". Swedish business is trying to cut back the influence of this, as it has, at it's worst level, a tendency to suppress creativity and dynamism and discourage acheivement. Thing is, England is kinda similar in that nothing is loathed more than a braggart and modesty is highly praised.

There are many other similar instances where Swedish culture is more akin to English than that of the USA. My Swedish girlfriend and I often marvel at how similar the two countries can be, despite their differences.

As an interesting aside, when she does not know the English word for something, she will often say it in Swedish and I, despite knowing practically no Swedish, can have a good guess at the word she means, simply by listening to what the Swedish word sounds like. Taking into account the context of the word, I can guess probably 80% of the time. ;)

[Theocrat]

As a reluctant Englishman who's just moved to Sweden, I can say there are, in many ways, as many similarities between Sweden and the England as there are between England and the US.

I've met more englishmen here than americans.
Also that swedish girls, seem to like english men, for some reason not disclosed to me. Hope you will find it worth your stay.

The Swedish have an old concept of "Jantelagen". Which is hard to describe, but is, basically a kind of socially accepted 'law' that states, "You are no better than anyone else. Don't presume to elevate yourself above anyone.". Swedish business is trying to cut back the influence of this, as it has, at it's worst level, a tendency to suppress creativity and dynamism and discourage acheivement. Thing is, England is kinda similar in that nothing is loathed more than a braggart and modesty is highly praised.

I know! This law is a bummer but as you say it exists in some form, and at different degrees, in other countries as well.

Me and my brother suffered it the hard way. I moved back to Sweden from Singapore as a kid. And the region I live in is a hotspot for something called 'Bruks-mentalitet" roughly "industrial community mentality". Another variant of "The Law Of Jante".
It was a hard time growing up socially with this omnious law lingering inside people's heads.

I've read somewhere that The law of Jante is historically a rural phenomenon. In that the mentality came about because the farming communities needed to survive in a group manner. If one thought he was above the rest or not to be included for heavy work, aka, not helping others because he deemed himself too good for it. The community would run into hardship. Thus the law naturally evolved among the farmers, then later on to middle-classes after the industrial revolution.

Probably also why swedes are so safety minded I guess.
Probably why unions are stronger here than in, say, germany?

The thing is (and I hate to say this, because i've heard it myself).
When a swede gets ahead of everyone else, he also becomes a
real prick for some reason. Maybe a rough counter reaction I guess.
At least in my part of the country. Other towns might have it better socially. But the chicks in my town (sandviken) are too snobby and really BOORRRIING. Aka they suck!!! Hأ¤lsingland has way more better and social chicks.

I also try to get people to ignore this law. But at the same time not step on other's if they get ahead.

There are many other similar instances where Swedish culture is more akin to English than that of the USA. My Swedish girlfriend and I often marvel at how similar the two countries can be, despite their differences.

Well I guess it's just mostly cultural diffusion from the industrial era I think you are refering to.

As an interesting aside, when she does not know the English word for something, she will often say it in Swedish and I, despite knowing practically no Swedish, can have a good guess at the word she means, simply by listening to what the Swedish word sounds like. Taking into account the context of the word, I can guess probably 80% of the time. ;)

Do you think the language is hard?
Indo-european languges and the roots that bind them are a fun thing.

[Dibzva]

Do you think the language is hard?
Indo-european languges and the roots that bind them are a fun thing.

In a way, yes, the language is hard. But not for the reason most people think.

i) Most people under the age of 35-40 in Sweden speak practically perfect English. Second best rated non-native English speaking country in the world (after Holland but, personally, I find the Swedish accent preferable). This means I can get by *very* well without learning Swedish. Been here 5 months now and still not got much further than "Jag vill ha en أ¶l, tack." ;p

ii) Many words and phrases in Swedish are so similar (sounding) to comparable English words/phrases that I can do a *fairly* good job of understanding *some* Swedish, without going to the bother of teaching myself/learning.

As it is, though, I am forcing myself to teach myself as much as I can - even when I don't really feel too much pressure to learn the language. I can't get on a "Swedish for Immigrants" course until I've got my personal ID number sorted out and that could take months yet, so I just keep learning bits here and bits there.

So, Swedish is pretty easy to learn, but learning it is hard. Kinda... ;)

[spaced_moorcock]

Re: The world is one big 'blog'?

Dee described the wonders of the oh-so-British 'black pudding' to me and, well, ewwwwwwwww.

If you think that black pudding sounds gross then you should try the wonderful delights of a deep-fried Mars bar in batter with tomato ketchup. I've never tried one but deep-frying confectonary is one of the more stranger inventions of British cuisine.

swedish girls, seem to like english men......they suck!!!

8O Hmm... think I may move to Sweden in the future. :oops:

*Spaced drags his mind out of the gutter and goes to clean his head out with a wire brush*

Indo-european languges and the roots that bind them are a fun thing.

I never been to Sweden (although it is somewhere I would like to visit) but I have noticed that there are some words that sound and mean similar things in English. The only northern european language I had trouble understanding was Finnish and finding a phrase-book before I visited was practically impossible.