Based on my experience of Europeans, I’d say this is pretty accurate.
Category Archive: Culture Clash
May
22
2011
It’s better on a bike
Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing pointed me to a fantastic essay at the Sustainable Cities Collective website on the way people’s perceptions of their city changes when they experience it on a bicycle. Given that I haven’t owned a car since I moved to Sweden in the summer of 2002 (and Dr. Darling has never owned …
May
01
2011
The Häagen-Dazs Dilemma
One of the things that’s always surprised and disappointed me about Sweden is the rather limited selection of really good ice cream in grocery stores. One would think that the “land of 9 different grades of cream” could make decent ice cream, and I have Swedish friends who swear it exists, but it’s not stocked …
Mar
27
2011
Kate & Wills choose world’s worst wedding cake
I’m not sure to what degree “Royal Wedding Mania” is occurring in the United States, but I’m pretty confident the couple’s selection of a “traditional fruitcake” as their wedding cake is not scoring them any points with my compatriots. According to Wikipedia, fruit cake comes in many forms in the UK, which means it’s not …
Mar
24
2011
The Great Train Robbery of 2011
I had to be in Malmö for a mid-afternoon eye doctor’s appointment today, so I left my office shortly after lunch for the commute home. In hindsight, I probably should have bitten the bullet and just used the (typically disgusting) toilet on the train, but I actually didn’t realize how bad I had to wizz …
Feb
08
2011
“Fruit up your All-Bran” ad may not translate to the US market
English is very commonly used in Swedish advertising since most Swedes have fairly mad skills in the language. But this billboard is a perfect illustration of how critical nuance doesn’t always land with Swedish copywriters.
Jan
19
2012
Do not mess with Sir Richard Attenborough
I was SO looking forward to watching the latest series of world-renown BBC nature documentaries, Frozen Planet. We were mesmerized by the original Planet Earth series, to the point that we could not pull ourselves away from the TV one winter Saturday when the Discovery Channel showed all 11 episodes back-to-back. We also enjoyed Blue Planet, …
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Tags: Anglophilia, BBC Documentaries, Swedish TV
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