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- "Den gamla ankan badade i pen…
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I don't know if this has been discussed elsewhere, but this sentence reminds me of Sweden's tradition of watching an old Disney cartoon every Christmas Eve. It's bizarre to outsiders, but very serious to Swedes.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2009/12/nordic_quack.html
Yep, I've seen it in person. The best thing is that it's not just "old cartoons", it's always THE SAME old cartoons, so people know them by heart. I heard it's so popular because in the old days cartoons were only broadcast in christmas day, so it was a big event.
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It's not actually ALWAYS the same things--they have gradually switched out some of the shorts and tried to edit out the more racist bits. And, they reserve some space to put in clips of their up-and-coming movies. Some free advertising for Disney...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_All_of_Us_to_All_of_You#Sweden
And, this bit from the Wikipedia article: "In the 1970s, when SVT's head of children's programming disclosed plans to discontinue the special due to growing anti-commercial sentiment in the country, public outcry resulted in the special being maintained."
Now I finally understand! Recently I was hiking in Sweden around Christmas time, and I slept in unmanned huts (stugar). One of these huts had a guestbook in which a previous visitor had left a message: he had stayed in the hut on Christmas and missed Kalle Anka. I didn't get what Donald Duck had to do with it, but apparently it is quite a thing to miss at Christmas ;-).
Did you try call STF in Sweden and ask them. It is the youth hostel org up there. I only slept in manned stugor until know, but I bet they know how to arrange a trip like that. good luck !
My Son's Swedish partner introduced us to this custom last year. As a lifelong Disney fan, I highly approve!
Pop songs are among Sweden's top exports to the US. Additionally, a Swede wrote the theme song for Duck Tales.
The DuckTales theme was written by Mark Mueller, an American - were you thinking of someone else?
Finally a convincing reason to learn the term for "duck". Still confused on the reason for all the emphasis on turtles, elephants, and ants.
I was confused by this, but in our first 24 hours in Sweden we visited two places, and they both contained turtles, so points to Duolingo ;)
Listen to children's Swedish radio sometime. You'll quickly come to understand why we learn a lot of off animal and location words early. Children's songs are full of bears, moose, elephants, and forests.
Swedes are very close to nature, spiritually if not always physically. Though often both.
The Stockholm area is full of ducks (and geese), and there are lots of ants too!
I just don't get what this sentence is doing in a unit dealing with infinitives.
That is actually a very good point. No infinitives in sight. However, badar is a new word, introduced in this lesson... so maybe that's why? But yeah, sort of misleading.
Yes, that's what happened here unfortunately. The verb "bada" is introduced here and therefore the sentence moved here, it's a bug and will be fixed in the future, however it is a popular phrase, so we don't want to remove it.
Yes, it's like the Christmas cartoons. :) A Swedish Duolingo tradition.
I saw someone mention this before, simma is just swimming (propelling through the water) bada is both swimming and bathing (or just being in the water)
is "swimming in money" an idiom? Where I'm from, "swimming in money" can mean "filthy rich" (aka, really really rich)
Yes, that's what it means in English, too, and I'm assuming that's why it's included here. As a reference to Disney's Scrooge McDuck, it would be accurate both literally and idiomatically.
Is the Swedish version of this sentence idiomatic as well or only the English one?
In the UK in the midlands "me duck" is used as a term of friendliness to strangers: usually when buying something or doing them a favour. Mm just thought you would like to know !
I almost translated this to 'the old widow was swimming in money' XD. I always have a problem keeping the word for widow and duck apart.
The Swedish title of the show is "Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul". Why is it "hans" and not "sina" here?
hans vänner is part of the subject here, so there's no need for reflexive pronouns yet. It may be a bit easier to see if you consider that without Donald, the phrase would have been Hans vänner önskar..., without sina. So the och is just glue for the two parts of the subject.
It’s referring to Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck’s uncle. Or Farbror Joakim as his name is in Swedish. Donald Duck is very popular in Scandinavia and hit more success here than Mickey Mouse.
Interesting to see the different names in different languages. In German he is called Dagobert Duck. I wonder about other names in different languages.
Think Donald is still just Donald in French, but Scrooge is Oncle Picsou.
Haha, that's funny - I mean, I absolutely get your point, but having grown up with a and ä being completely different letters, this is as foreign to me as confusing "dill" and "kill" in English. :)
You're probably right. I guess I'm thinking too much about Scrooge McDuck.
Can someone please explain me the difference between BADA and SIMMA?
Bada is when you are in a bathtub (not active) and simma is when you are in a pool (most of the time active, but this is not nessesary). This is the same as bathing and swimming in English.
No, that's not correct. We use simma if you're doing some kind of actual swimming that moves you - like breaststroke or backstroke. Obviously, you can't do that in a bathtub, but the distinction has nothing to do with where you are. To bada i sjön is perfectly idiomatic Swedish, for instance.
Thank you so much! Since your explaination I'm quite sure I can translate in italian BADA as FARE IL BAGNO and SIMMAR as NUOTARE...perfectly clear
American English is more likely to make that distinction than British English. British English uses it more as devalanteriel says in his answer. You can go bathing in the ocean, or a lake, without actually swimming. And bathing doesn't necessarily imply cleaning yourself with soap....and nor does "bada".
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Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) and his family are a huge part of Swedish culture. During Christmas, as others have mentioned, families watch together the same old cartoon where he photographs birds, but also his comics are read by everyone and sold everywhere.
Disney comic book characters aside, I think "old coot" would work well here too.
Is "sothöna" gendered? In English (or at least to my ear), an "old coot" is male; an "old biddy," an "old bat," or, to be slightly nastier, an "old bag" is female. (Because if I'm going to insult people, I'd like to do it gender-appropriately.)
No, it's just the name of the species. Actually, if you're talking about the animal in English - and not the insult - so "coot" is.
Aha -- You just taught me some English. I wasn't familiar with the primary meaning of "coot" as an "aquatic bird," just with its informal sense as "an eccentric or crotchety person, especially an eccentric old man." Thanks!
I learned Swedish first as a child by reading Kalle Anka comic books. I find that still very useful as an adult.
Google "Scrooge McDuck". It's a very well-known cultural reference in Sweden, the US, and many other countries. :)
