56 Comments
2220
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.
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 ;-).
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.
- 319
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!
- 751
I just don't get what this sentence is doing in a unit dealing with infinitives.
- 42
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.
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?
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.
- 79
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 !
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. :)
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.
- 563
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.
- 136
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.
- 136
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!
