Scandinavian Humor and Other Myths

As someone who grew up in Minnesota a 4th generation American yet still full-blooded Norweigan, I can't read this book without laughing until I cry. I picked up up years ago, when the Mall of America was brand new and exciting, and it's still a treasured part of my library. I can identify with almost every part of the book since I grew up in the Lutheran Church ("Lutherans are made and born. A little blond baby has lots of innate Nordic potential but he/she must be carefully nurtured through years of Luther League, confirmation and church suppers. The basic material is there, but the character must be set in the Lutheran mold. This may surprise those who think the only molds Lutherans have are Jell-O molds, but the two molds are suprisingly similar."), fished in the many Minnesota lakes ("Fishing comes in three forms: ice, boat, and dock. All three rely on sensory deprivation for their entertainment value, except that you're generally colder when you're ice fishing.") and ate mostly "snowblind" cooking ("Any food which cannot be peeled, blanched or boiled into whiteness is smothered in a Whitening Agent, usually cream of mushroom soup or white sugar frosting".) I've made my spouse and best friends read it to understand the world I came from, and never miss an opportunity to share it with my Minnesotan or Scandinavian bretheran. It is a spot-on slice of Americana whose truisms remind me of Monty Python's skewering of the English. This book is a funny, irreverant look at the lifestyles of an everyday, post-immigrant culture in a section of the good-old USA. Oof da!

I lived in Finland for six months and Sweden for two months, and most of them were in Lapland - Swedish or Finnish, what's the difference? Then I hitched down the entire coast of Norway (four days minimum since drivers, rare anyway, won't pick you up)to Oslo, back to Sweden, back through Denmark and into Germany. The temperature dropped to 32F, and I felt very warm indeed.I loved Scandanavia and I fit right in, with my droll and melancholy Irish background. But there's no denying that the people there tend to excessive brooding, stoicism, analysis, jealousy, drinking and inferiority complexes. Their food is not so all bland-white as the book implies, but it hits it pretty well on the button, that they are very suspicious of spices, and "food that hurts" (all these darn trendy ethnic restaurants).Their clothes fit the weather - if it's not freezing and snowing, then it's raining, windy, foggy, or at least overcast. Forget your happy California fantasies or take them elsewhere. So they all look plain, uniform and functional, well, it's cold! Have you been to Alaska? That lumberjack look ain't too pretty but it will do when there's icicles on your moustache.The funniest part for me was the illustrations of the various types of Scandanavians and how to distinguish the nationalities. Naturally, the model is always the same whether it's Erik Erikson, Lars Larson, or Jukka Suomilainen.Of course this book is aimed more at Scandanavians living in USA, especially in the Minnesota area. I haven't been there, but I surely will go and see how the polyester pants are doing. In fact, they remind me a lot of my parents' Irishness except that we make noise, have great wit and humor and drink less.Read this book and then drown your sorrows if you are a Swede!

My sister and I were talking about this book yesterday and I checked to see if it was still available. Thank goodness it is!I first read it in 1987 and laughed out loud at parts. It is all so true. If you grew up in the Midwest with Swedish-American parents like we did, it is all familiar. Particularly funny are the photographs and captions.Sections on the Lutheran Church are just the way it was for us. Jello was the food of choice at every church occasion that required food and from what I've heard still is.I think it helps if you have a Scandinavian background so you can understand the jokes which are so funny to us, but may not be to outsiders.I still get a laugh each time I look at it.