life:

An unprecedented photographic feat: Sixteen photos excerpted from Swedish photojournalist Lennart Nilsson’s book, A Life Is Born, were published in the April 30, 1965, issue of LIFE. The images followed the human embryo through its various stages of development.

Pretty remarkable stuff — you can view the rest of the spreads here.

We had that book! I would look at all the pictures when I was growing up - none of that stork malarkey for my family. Lennart Nilsson is AWESOME.

stalkofwheat:

flannybabes:

neilmobile:

wondering what the Swedish word for crying and masturbating simultaneously is, it’s gråtrunka. You’re welcome.

SEL….. Is this TRUE? You Swedes are WEIRD.

I saw that the other day and wondered also! Remembered Erika is away and forgot that I could always ask L XD

I told flannybabes this in person already, but short answer: yes.

Long answer: most (at least a lot of) Swedish words are made out of two smaller ones put together, and you can pretty much just join up any two words as long as they make sense. Gråtrunka is a new one, I’ll admit. I doubt it’s in the dictionary. But it’s structurally sound.

swedishproblems:

Can’t you heller få nog av Swenglish? Vi fick ett tips om hashtaggen #swedishsayings. Pull your straw to the stack och twittra ditt bästa ordspråk!

Pull your straw to the stack.

Pull your straw to the stack.

Robert gustavsson - horfamiljer (by Rolle900)

This is. The. Funniest. Thing. (Assuming you understand Swedish, that is.)

kinteru:

(compiled by Pamela Haag at BigThink)

1. Mamihlapinatapei (Yagan, an indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego): The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start. 
   Oh yes, this is an exquisite word, compressing a thrilling and scary relationship moment. It’s that delicious, cusp-y moment of imminent seduction. Neither of you has mustered the courage to make a move, yet. Hands haven’t been placed on knees; you’ve not kissed. But you’ve both conveyed enough to know that it will happen soon… very soon.
2. Yuanfen(Chinese): A relationship by fate or destiny. This is a complex concept. It draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.From what I glean, in common usage yuanfen means the “binding force” that links two people together in any relationship. 
   But interestingly, “fate” isn’t the same thing as “destiny.” Even if lovers are fated to find each other they may not end up together. The proverb, “have fate without destiny,” describes couples who meet, but who don’t stay together, for whatever reason. It’s interesting, to distinguish in love between the fated and the destined. Romantic comedies, of course, confound the two.
3. Cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese): The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone’s hair.
4. Retrouvailles (French):  The happiness of meeting again after a long time. This is such a basic concept, and so familiar to the growing ranks of commuter relationships, or to a relationship of lovers, who see each other only periodically for intense bursts of pleasure. I’m surprised we don’t have any equivalent word for this subset of relationship bliss. It’s a handy one for modern life.
5. Ilunga (Bantu): A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.
   Apparently, in 2004, this word won the award as the world’s most difficult to translate. Although at first, I thought it did have a clear phrase equivalent in English: It’s the “three strikes and you’re out” policy. But ilunga conveys a subtler concept, because the feelings are different with each “strike.” The word elegantly conveys the progression toward intolerance, and the different shades of emotion that we feel at each stop along the way.
   Ilunga captures what I’ve described as the shade of gray complexity in marriages—Not abusive marriages, but marriages that involve infidelity, for example.  We’ve got tolerance, within reason, and we’ve got gradations of tolerance, and for different reasons. And then, we have our limit. The English language to describe this state of limits and tolerance flattens out the complexity into black and white, or binary code. You put up with it, or you don’t.  You “stick it out,” or not.
   Ilunga restores the gray scale, where many of us at least occasionally find ourselves in relationships, trying to love imperfect people who’ve failed us and whom we ourselves have failed.
6. La Douleur Exquise (French): The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have.
   When I came across this word I thought of “unrequited” love. It’s not quite the same, though. “Unrequited love” describes a relationship state, but not a state of mind. Unrequited love encompasses the lover who isn’t reciprocating, as well as the lover who desires. La douleur exquise gets at the emotional heartache, specifically, of being the one whose love is unreciprocated.
7. Koi No Yokan (Japanese): The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love. 
   This is different than “love at first sight,” since it implies that you might have a sense of imminent love, somewhere down the road, without yet feeling it. The term captures the intimation of inevitable love in the future, rather than the instant attraction implied by love at first sight.
8. Ya’aburnee(Arabic): “You bury me.” It’s a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them.
   The online dictionary that lists this word calls it “morbid and beautiful.” It’s the “How Could I Live Without You?” slickly insincere cliché of dating, polished into a more earnest, poetic term. 
9. Forelsket: (Norwegian):  The euphoria you experience when you’re first falling in love.
   This is a wonderful term for that blissful state, when all your senses are acute for the beloved, the pins and needles thrill of the novelty. There’s a phrase in English for this, but it’s clunky. It’s “New Relationship Energy,” or NRE.
10. Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for someone that you love and is lost. Another linguist describes it as a “vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist.”
    It’s interesting that saudade accommodates in one word the haunting desire for a lost love, or for an imaginary, impossible, never-to-be-experienced love. Whether the object has been lost or will never exist, it feels the same to the seeker, and leaves her in the same place:  She has a desire with no future. Saudade doesn’t distinguish between a ghost, and a fantasy. Nor do our broken hearts, much of the time.

I really do like English, but sometimes it just isn’t as nuanced as it could be.

That said, there’s a Swedish word similar to the Norweigan one, but I still find Norweigan the second most hilarious-sounding language in the world.

(via annundriel)

motherjones:

fuckyournoguchicoffeetable:

Fuck your alphabet poster.

This must be where all those unhappy hipsters go at night after standing awkwardly around the fire pit.

Did I misunderstand something? Why the hate? It’s a Swedish alphabet poster, maybe the person is Swedish?

I kind of want that poster, to be honest. Not everyone is English or American, you know.

Cornelis Vreeswijk - Cecilia Lind (by stigiaas)

Vet Hut Fredrik Åkare, skäms gamla karl
Cecilia Lind är ju bara en barn!
Ren som en blomma, skygg som en vind
“Jag fyller snart 17” sa Cecilia Lind.

cafe-sverige:

Swedish fika on a four tiered serving stand

“Fika” - The Swedish coffee hour, or fika break, is a combination of coffee and chatting. A “fika” is not complete without buns, cookies or cakes, and has been popular since the second half of the 1800s. Swedes consume most cardamom in Europe and put it in buns that go with the coffee.

Location: Grythyttan, Västmanland

I WANT TO FIKA

I WANT THOSE DRÖMMAR

MMM DRÖMMAR

somedayillseetheworld:

Ice Church, Kiruna, Sweden

samanthalim:

TREEHOTEL / SWEDEN

Yep, you’re looking at the best treehouses ever. Take me there!

How did I not know this is a thing?

I was so much better than the American one. I want to rewatch all of them, but I went into HMV today and couldn’t find it.

Nor could I find more Bones or Stargate SG-1 boxsets, which really disappointed me. The HMV on Argyle Street clearly has inferior dvd collections to the Buchanan Street one, even though the music selection was bigger.

(via noomirapace)

Two years ago I spent New Years Eve with three of my best friends ever in their house in Sweden. We went out to the lake with a lantern to see with and a thermos of vodka-infused-Glögg and drank it, sitting in the snow, watching about 20 different groups of fireworks be reflected in the water. Then we went to the snow fort we’d spent the last few days making and sat and talked, drinking more vodka we’d buried in the snow.

It was probably the best New Years Eve I’ve ever had.

Last year I looked up at the clock at 23:59 and said “shit! It’s almost midnight!” and we all jumped up to get champagne and light sparklers over the sink, since we couldn’t be bothered going outside in the cold and we don’t approve enough of the environmental damage fireworks do to get our own.

It was awesome. Probably also one of the best NYEs I’ve had.

(Edit: OH HEY I’m wearing the same t-shirt as last year! The purple Stanford t-shirt Nainers got me that she sewed a yellow sun on. Good times. Friends, even if I’m not physically with you you’re in my heart.)

Okay seriously get out of my personal space please.

(Also I promise this’ll be my last Swedish Problems reblog in a while, I’m sorry you guys.)

…It’s actually really embarrassing.

Look, if you tell me to arrive at 8, that’s when I’ll arrive. If you want me to get there later then TELL ME.

….Du gamla, du fria, du…fjällhöga nord

du tysta, du ….glädjerika skööööööna

jag …….nånting, nn nånting, nånting nånting nn

ja, jaaag vill leva jag vill döööö i nooorden!