How does one say "Oy Vey" in Swedish?

June 13, 2012 4:35 PM

The Swedish government has been handing over their @sweden Twitter account to a different citizen each week since December, so they could ostensibly talk about themselves and perhaps what they love about their homeland. It's Democracy in Action! But this week's "Twede": Sonja Abrahamsson, decided to take things in a... different and controversial direction.

MeFi's own dabitch summarizes:

"Her offensive tweets have included a Henry Blodget-worthy digression on "what’s the fuzz with Jews?,” the claim that "before WWII Hitler was one of the most beautiful names in the whole wide world," a photo of Freddy Mercury with strawberries captioned "hungry gay with aids," a video on "breastfolding," the need to get some eggs so she wouldn’t "starve like an African child," that her life might be easier if she "had downs syndrome" and the suggestion "that Happy Feet is probably the worst movie ever." In other words, Sonja is a troll. ... Sonja has very effectively trolled Twitter, and the international media.

Swedes who are upset with what she's posting, are now parodying her at @real_sweden

Forbes: Why Did Sweden Hand Its National Twitter Account Over To A Troll?

AdWeek: "Sweden hands its twitter account to citizens and things get weird. How much transparency is good for tourism?"

Sweden stands by the tweets despite the controversy.

posted by zarq (128 comments total)

How awesome would the @USA tag be if a random schmuck got to run with it for a whole month?

I love it, and Sweden should keep this thing going.
posted by Renoroc at 4:39 PM on June 13, 2012 [15 favorites]

Trolls a people too.
posted by Damienmce at 4:42 PM on June 13, 2012 [7 favorites]

The sheer number of people, groups, ethnicities that she managed to insulg is truly breathtaking. Maybe Sweden will start a new Eurovision, Twitter edition?
posted by Leezie at 4:45 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not a big twitter user so I'm sure there must be an obvious reason I'm overlooking, but if this is the official twitter account for the Swedish government, why are the tweets in english?
posted by blaneyphoto at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Can't... stop... laughing... (I'm lizzing!)
posted by tempythethird at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

OH, smärta!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012

Renoroc: How awesome would the @USA tag be if a random schmuck got to run with it for a whole month?

Instead, it's the same schmuck* forever.

* OK, I don't know if G Mason is really a schmuck, but who would really grab USA as a Twitter handle? A schmuck, or a SEO jerk. Since the user has only tweeted about 20 times since 2010, we can rule out SEO jerk.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ehh, it's Sweden. Whadda they got to offer besides meatballs and yodeling?
posted by jonmc at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Trolls a people too.

Didn't trolls actually originate in northern Europe? Like as a subset of the Jötnar?

I mean, maybe this Sonja is an actual bonofide troll.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [24 favorites]

If that's not enough of a random schmuck, search the #USA hashtag. More random than schmucks.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:49 PM on June 13, 2012

Reading the above went something like, "Oh wow. Oh no. Whoa! Holy shit. Ah jeez. Okay well yeah, Happy Feet was horrible, totally valid point."
posted by hypersloth at 4:49 PM on June 13, 2012 [14 favorites]

Since the user has only tweeted about 20 times since 2010, we can rule out SEO jerk

Deep-cover Soviet mole.
posted by mrbill at 4:49 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I need to go buy a Skämskudde, yet Etsy seems to have failed me.
posted by humanfont at 4:50 PM on June 13, 2012 [22 favorites]

Blaneyphoto, I can't say for sure, but they're trying to promote Sweden as a tourist destination.
posted by zarq at 4:51 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I stand opposed to the imagined beauty of Hitler, yet I stand firmly behind harsh criticism of Happy Feet. SO TORN.
posted by damehex at 4:53 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

I love Sweden for coining the word "skämskudde". But humanfont, you are clearly looking in the wrong place for your shame pillow, because not only does Etsy have no shame, but the obvious place for your Swedish emotional-expression-furnishing needs is Ikea.
posted by gingerest at 4:56 PM on June 13, 2012 [15 favorites]

Considering that they've been doing this since December, I'm frankly surprised that something like hasn't happened sooner.
posted by asnider at 4:58 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Happy Feet is pretty bad. You've got to give her that.
posted by Area Man at 5:01 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I need to go buy a Skämskudde, yet Etsy seems to have failed me.

I feel like this pillow has a high level of shame.

Because I have no Skämskudde (what a perfect concept!) to hide behind, and yet I feel compelled to say something, I would like to pick at one nit in Dabitch's coverage:

Update - Sonja would like to call today her "Nürnberg experience" (a reference to the Nuremberg Trials - again the lady can not write proper English).

Sonja does seem to have problems with proper English (and how dare a Swede not speak proper English!) but she is, um, using the proper German name of the German city. In German.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 5:01 PM on June 13, 2012 [7 favorites]

Sweden stands by the tweets despite the controversy

Eh, shouldn't that be "Sweden Stands By Twitter Strategy Despite Controversy"?
posted by vidur at 5:05 PM on June 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

Sometimes I just look at my children and think about the time when they had my vagina round their neck.

there is no way a human being made this up - clearly the product of a comedy-writing supercomputer in a cone of silence underneath the arctic circle, powered by alfred einstein's brain in a jar
posted by facetious at 5:05 PM on June 13, 2012 [18 favorites]

They can't not think this would happen sooner or later. Or maybe they didn't imagine anyone would abuse the account. Typical social democrats, assuming the best about people. That'll teach them!

Whadda they got to offer besides meatballs and yodeling?

Yodeling belongs to Switzerland.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

Oy vey.

That instantly made me think fondly of my college Swedish professor, Dr. Rose Marie Oster, who was on a level playing field with Joan Cusack, Cathy Moriarty, and Susan Tyrrell amongst the women of the world whose zany mouth-acting je ne sais quoi takes me to a plateau of giddy euphoria every time a word with an "oo" sound is uttered. This development would have made her say "usch, usch, usch," and I would have died immediately, but with a broad, satisfying smile on my lips.

Oh my, now I'm all misty over my long-lost grasp of Swedish, which died of disuse in the murky Southern swampland where I live almost completely separated from any speakers of the great Nordic tongues.

Usch, usch, usch.
posted by sonascope at 5:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

she is, um, using the proper German name of the German city. In German.

Or, alternatively and possibly more likely, the name the Swedes call it by.
posted by jedicus at 5:07 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Who is alfred einstein?
posted by danl at 5:09 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

If nothing else, she's added "What's the fuzz with" to my lexicon...
posted by Ian A.T. at 5:10 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I mean, I figured not every single person in the country was a good person. There have to be some jerks around. Why shouldn't jerks have official representation too? (aside from politicians)
posted by Garm at 5:15 PM on June 13, 2012

What's Swedish for "SO EDGY"?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:15 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Metafilter: where I go to break my brain.
posted by corb at 5:17 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Push and fold. Push and fold.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:18 PM on June 13, 2012

This was absolutely, 100% inevitable. On the one hand it seems completely impossible that the gov didn't think this would happen, it's so obvious, on the other hand, there is no limit to how thoughtless government bureaucrats can be, so who knows, maybe now they're saying "oops, this was a bad idea". Then again, perhaps they wanted to say "here, let us show our dedication to maximum freedom and democracy, wherever it may lead, even though we know the dark side of this will show" - at least it's not propaganda pretending that "things like this don't happen here". Isn't there already thread on MeFi today about how "that's why we can't have nice things"?
posted by VikingSword at 5:19 PM on June 13, 2012

I proposed we start referring to MeFi by the name Swedes call it by: Nërdberg.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:19 PM on June 13, 2012 [28 favorites]

I have been waiting for the term Skämskudde all my life. It is so useful.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:20 PM on June 13, 2012 [14 favorites]

"Sometimes I just look at my children and think about the time when they had my vagina round their neck.

Wow. I used to like/fancy a woman who had a young child, and I remember thinking this and wondering if it was appropriate or if it made me a weirdo. Now I know.
posted by marienbad at 5:23 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I need a Skämskudde into which I can cry my tears of Fremdschämen.

My husband, upon reading this story, started singing "What is this thing/Called Jews?" in the muppet chef's accent. Why I am still married, Episode 1537.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:25 PM on June 13, 2012 [16 favorites]

The dinner was horrible. It felt like eating your way through a shaved vikings chest, while he's trying to kill you.

oh man I am crushing so hard on this woman
posted by troubles at 5:25 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

That is fantastic. I am not being all ironic and stuff here, I love this so much.

It wraps up in a tortilla of shithammered stupid so much that of the ludicrous jetpackfuture utopian nonsense around Twitter and its ilk, drizzles it with a fine sauce of governmental bandwagon-hopping, garnishes with a sprinkle of the old s-freude that those Swedish superpeople with their unattainably high quality of life are peppered with dummies too, and serves it all up with a big 16 ounce cup of sparkling lulz.

For dessert, we have the hope that the Twitterer in question is actually whipsmart and ironic, and doing this strictly as a self-aware pisstake. Because that would be even more fantastic.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:26 PM on June 13, 2012 [23 favorites]

I feel like this pillow has a high level of shame.

NO

MAKE IT STOP
posted by elizardbits at 5:27 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Obligatory
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 5:31 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know, this honestly makes me love Sweden more. Why? Because most countries would have backed out of this, tried to hide it, or otherwise made simpering apologies for what this woman said. Sweden? Nope, stands by the idea of a public platform for one of their citizens to say this stuff, for the entire month. That takes balls, and a total respect for honoring a deal, even if it doesn't turn out the way you hoped it would.
posted by strixus at 5:37 PM on June 13, 2012 [32 favorites]

For dessert, we have the hope that the Twitterer in question is actually whipsmart and ironic, and doing this strictly as a self-aware pisstake

Wait..are people thinking she's not?
posted by troubles at 5:38 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I agree strixus, and screw the commenters that say since Sweden didn't take them down that Sweden stands by the tweets.
posted by Phantomx at 5:40 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

As a blue-eyed Jew with an Ashkenazi dad and a Swedish-American mother, I have no idea how I am supposed to feel about what a shonda that svenska flicka is. But it's sure to cause trouble the next time the mishpoche get together with the slekt slekt.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:40 PM on June 13, 2012 [15 favorites]

Why do people feel the need to try to be funny on twitter?

What is funny is that she actually sounds swedish even in writing. I think i did end up somewhat liking the quirky scandinavian english after all.

Props to sweden for sort of shrugging at the whole thing.
posted by palbo at 5:43 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Maybe the officials in charge are reading these and thinking how awesome they are for not having had to declare Twitter a Free Speech Zone before she was able to post any of that.
posted by jacalata at 5:49 PM on June 13, 2012

Wow. I, too, have had a vagina around my neck. Not everyone can say that. Cool!
posted by Jestocost at 5:50 PM on June 13, 2012 [6 favorites]

Who is alfred einstein?

Albert's more comedy-prone brother. You never heard much about him because, just before he hit it big, someone kidnapped him to the Arctic circle, gouged out his brain, and put it in a jar.
posted by FatherDagon at 5:52 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Wow. I, too, have had a vagina around my neck. Not everyone can say that. Cool!

For example, I cannot. Woe is me. I guess?
posted by maxwelton at 5:54 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not everyone can say that.

I was going to call you a liar, but then I realize that I haven't.
posted by asnider at 5:57 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Who is alfred einstein?

it's an old, old joke. my apologies, that was not meant as a troll :-)
posted by facetious at 5:57 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Since the user has only tweeted about 20 times since 2010, we can rule out SEO jerk

Deep-cover Soviet mole.

Apparently unaware it collapsed 20 years ago.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:59 PM on June 13, 2012

I'm surprised people think they should filter people. Erm, sounds more like an angle to me, I mean, if the survey of ignorant people only has a silly person every once in a while, people might tend to think there is a lower population of said silly people. If however, they never show anyone silly, we would be sure they are full of crap.
posted by Nighthawk3729 at 6:02 PM on June 13, 2012

Apparently unaware it collapsed 20 years ago.

VERY deep cover.
posted by FatherDagon at 6:02 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also: regardless of whether or not she is being totally serious with her bizarre racist comments, comparing her daughter to gollum in this tweet is pure win.
posted by asnider at 6:02 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Apparently unaware it collapsed 20 years ago.

There are Americans who seem to be unaware of this fact, so why shouldn't there be Soviets who are equally unaware? If they were aware of it, they would have blown their cover.
posted by Joey Michaels at 6:03 PM on June 13, 2012

Remind's me of the Swedish-culture-minister-slices-open-African-woman's-genitals-cake incident (don't forget to watch the video again), and Jallow Momodou's subsequent op-ed about racism being "common" in Sweden.
posted by mediareport at 6:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

"Turns out an aryan looking woman asking how to identify jews – caused quite a fuzz!" - Stephen Colbert wants to be @Sweden on twitter now, asks for your help in operation #artificialSwedener.
posted by dabitch at 6:09 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Let Jens Lekman do it please please please.
posted by drjimmy11 at 6:16 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Why do people feel the need to try to be funny on twitter?

Why do people feel the need to be *on* Twitter at all?
posted by spitbull at 6:17 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

With usage help from sprakraset:

Metafilter: I går fick jag nästan äta upp min skämskudde.
posted by humanfont at 6:18 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

So how is the @sweden account managed, from a practical point of view? Do they just hand over the password to a new person every week? What's to stop a traitorous controller from handing the account over to Norway?
posted by Jimbob at 6:20 PM on June 13, 2012 [11 favorites]

Whilst in some respects I can appreciate the comedy, as always the problem with "ironic" racism, sexism etc, is that actually, it's still racist, sexist etc.

Pointing this out often gets you branded as a humorless git, but the point still stands, imho, especially on the internet. You only have to go a few fpps down to see how the line between irony and chauvinism can be wafer thin, if it exists at all.
posted by smoke at 6:38 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

MacBeth
Act IV Scene 1
Second Apparition
Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of whose ever had a vagina around his neck
Shall harm Macbeth.
posted by mcmile at 6:40 PM on June 13, 2012 [11 favorites]

That all said, shit like this is pretty funny:

In english you say "balls" about someone who is brave. In sweden we say "labia". Example: "You surely showed some real heroic labia there"
posted by smoke at 6:41 PM on June 13, 2012 [10 favorites]

Alfred Einstein was actually a highly esteemed 20th century musicologist who was one of the world's greatest experts on Mozart.
posted by dfan at 6:47 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

I like the feminist who started posting pictures of herself breastfeeding her two kids - and then responded to the stir with this:

I dont give a shit if me breastfeeding offends. I refuse to cover up. I refuse to be discrete. I refuse to feel shame! ‪#breastfeedingriot

much better.

Oh, and now there's this:

‘Be patient’ says Sweden to Colbert’s Twitter plea

which includes this:

When probed about the extra ten thousand followers that have joined overnight since the current @Sweden curator’s tweets have gone viral, Guimaraes beamed.

“It’s terrific that there’s been such a positive response. But we have been happy with each of the 24 curators so far, and have enjoyed the 20,000 plus tweets they’ve posted. The following has been growing fast, and we’re proud to have been engaging so many people since we launched it,” he added.

So perhaps that "Sweden stands by the tweets" stuff isn't so far off-base after all.
posted by mediareport at 6:54 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

I need a glögg.
posted by argonauta at 6:56 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Jönemcee.

Heh. I'm actually about as edgy as a wiffle bat, but that's still funny.
posted by jonmc at 6:57 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

mediareport - isn't that the same person?
posted by jacalata at 7:00 PM on June 13, 2012

No, it was from March. They change the account weekly.
posted by mediareport at 7:03 PM on June 13, 2012

Ehh, it's Sweden. Whadda they got to offer besides meatballs and yodeling?

You meant meatballs and aquavit.

AND WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU NEED!
posted by eriko at 7:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

jacalata: Twitter always shows the account's current photo for tweets posted by that account.
posted by glhaynes at 7:13 PM on June 13, 2012

There are Americans who seem to be unaware of this fact, so why shouldn't there be Soviets who are equally unaware?

Indeed.
posted by empath at 7:13 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

So the Adweek article has a link to a translated version of her blog, which uses "The New Hitler"(?) as a running joke(?) of some sort. The Swedish Twitter folks had to know what they were getting with this one, no?
posted by mediareport at 7:16 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

aquavit, I can get from Denmark.
posted by jonmc at 7:17 PM on June 13, 2012

So how is the @sweden account managed, from a practical point of view? Do they just hand over the password to a new person every week? What's to stop a traitorous controller from handing the account over to Norway?

Twitter has a "contributor" feature. (Since 2009.)
posted by dhartung at 7:53 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

How awesome would the @USA tag be if a random schmuck got to run with it for a whole month?

Picture the Republican primaries. So, yeah...pretty awesome.
posted by uosuaq at 7:59 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

oh, weird. I actually saw the '@Sweden /Sonja' and thought that was identifying the individual who'd tweeted it - but instead they are changing the account name each week, which shows up on all old posts the same way. Seems even stranger that if it's a twitter feature, there isn't a way to easily see which person behind an account tweeted it? (I can see why you would want to avoid this in some cases, but I can also see why you'd really want it in others).
posted by jacalata at 8:00 PM on June 13, 2012

As long as she didn't say the word rape, metafilter is cool with her.
posted by weinbot at 8:03 PM on June 13, 2012

Stephen Colbert wants to be @Sweden on twitter now, asks for your help in operation #artificialSwedener.

Will Ferrell is married to a Swede. Just putting that out there.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:12 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

weinbot: "As long as she didn't say the word rape, metafilter is cool with her."

Go on.
posted by zarq at 8:14 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

So she may have made a mistake in her questions about Jews. It actually take some effort to construe her tweets as antisemitic, rather than simple observations that Jews are just virtually indistinguishable from non-Jews. But it was a mistake to look like a typical Nordic blonde while engaging in that conversation.

And I guess that she thus deserves any rude responses she gets as a result.

WackyPacks ‏@rufusjonz
@sweden have you ever had a kosher sausage injection? no? do you want one?

posted by fredludd at 8:45 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm all for parking 747s on dolphin rapists.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:46 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

She won me with Have you seen little Mermaid 3? Ariels mom is run over by a ship in that movie. Thats hilarious, cause the ocean is so big. #odds
posted by xmutex at 8:52 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

as in hipster self-aware pomo guerrilla avant-garde satire hacking for critical political art's sake. please god no.

No, as in someone who isn't actually dumb as dirt, but is just pretending to be for comedy's sake.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:56 PM on June 13, 2012

Are "dolphin rapists" people who assault dolphins, or dolphins who assault people?
posted by gingerest at 9:13 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

fredludd: "So she may have made a mistake in her questions about Jews. It actually take some effort to construe her tweets as antisemitic, rather than simple observations that Jews are just virtually indistinguishable from non-Jews."

"In nazi German they even had to sew stars on their sleeves. If they didn't, they could never now who was a jew and who was not a jew"

The Germans did it so it would be easier to set us apart from the rest of the population, concentrate us in one place, degrade and demean us, subject us to various indignities including starvation, and then eventually so they could more easily march us off to gas chambers or labor camps. If we didn't wear the badge or armband, we could be killed. So no, it wasn't purely for identification purposes. It was an integral part of their Final Solution.

Because of this, her tweet is not a "simple observation" to anyone who is familiar with history. Is her comment a form of antisemitism? I honestly don't know. Don't care. She's clearly trolling for outraged reactions.

But it was a mistake to look like a typical Nordic blonde while engaging in that conversation."

Well, that and wanting to be called "New Hitler." But she could look like Tevye the Dairyman and the comment would probably still have ruffled feathers.
posted by zarq at 9:15 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

Maybe I have been successfully trolled, but, for some reason, I don't find that Hitler shit very funny.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:34 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

Are "dolphin rapists" people who assault dolphins, or dolphins who assault people?
They are people. Dolphins who assault people would be 'rapist dolphins' or 'people raping dolphins' to remove any ambiguity.
posted by therubettes at 9:40 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Wow. Check out 1:55 in this video. It's in sweedish. But... you get the jist.
posted by delmoi at 9:40 PM on June 13, 2012

Actually scratch 'people raping dolphins' that's even more ambiguous.
posted by therubettes at 9:42 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

She does though.

"... thought lately to how was Hitler as comrade and friend" (2: 10) "... it's hard to be friends with Hitler, but not because of human rights violations ... the biggest problem with Hitler that he appears to have such fucking bad breath ... video was published on 5 jun 2012

---"... we love the Nazis ..." (2: 55) Christmas greeting from the nazilover No 1 video 24 dec 2011

---"... I am thinking about changing my surname to Hitler. And so I am going to make the name OK again. You know, out with the old, out with your moustache, away with the gassing of Jews, removed with experiments on insane and gays, etc., removed that whole business with stuffing the cushions and mattresses with human hair, away with the conquest of Belgium...New Hitler will stand for love, openness, care, jobs, perhaps even be Environmental ... I will make the name Hitler OK again." new Hitler video 4 Oct 2011

It's her schtick. (All videos in Swedish)
posted by dabitch at 9:44 PM on June 13, 2012

They are people. Dolphins who assault people would be 'rapist dolphins' or 'people raping dolphins' to remove any ambiguity.

To be fair dolphins trying to rape humans is a much more common occurrence then the other way around.
posted by delmoi at 9:45 PM on June 13, 2012 [5 favorites]

Not that it matters, but "hitler" wasn't even a name before hitler's dad thought it up. There was only other one branch of the family with that name, and he changed it after the war.
posted by delmoi at 9:59 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

Actually scratch 'people raping dolphins' that's even more ambiguous.

Not with a HYPHEN!
"people-raping dolphins" would be dolphins who rape humans
posted by MikeKD at 11:06 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

Whilst in some respects I can appreciate the comedy, as always the problem with "ironic" racism, sexism etc, is that actually, it's still racist, sexist etc.

I could be wrong, but for me the comedy is in the fact they appear to have turned the Twitter over to the village idiot
posted by Hoopo at 11:34 PM on June 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well I learnt a new word from this thread: bonofide.

Does it mean "the sincerity a multimillionaire has about curing world poverty?"
posted by MuffinMan at 11:35 PM on June 13, 2012 [2 favorites]

The best thing about skämskudde is that it is not pronounced anywhere NEAR what you probably think it is. In fact, it contains sounds that English speakers have to train for years to be able to produce. And you can't have your shame pillow until you can pronounce it!

Yay Sweden!
posted by lollusc at 11:51 PM on June 13, 2012 [3 favorites]

Even if she's just kidding around for the attention (hint: still antisemitic), she is a yucky person whose 15 minutes can't end fast enough.
posted by gingerest at 11:53 PM on June 13, 2012 [4 favorites]

(If you want to try, though, you can hear the pronunciation of the first part of the word here).
posted by lollusc at 11:55 PM on June 13, 2012

So this spring/early summer, my partner has been eating a ridiculous amount of berries - like I can leave for work with four pints of different berries and there may not be any left when I get home (hopefully with more berries) and I've been giving him lots of teasing about it.
Obviously, "hungry gay with aids", already transformed to Freddie Mercury, will be a useful turn of phrase around here.

This whole idea is actually, politically, a shrewd move. By making the national conversation about the kind of ignorant 140 characters of idiocy that are typical of Twitter, Swedish politicians have set the bar low (or high, depending on your perspective) for their own social networking foibles.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:56 AM on June 14, 2012

Has anyone seen Happy Feet II yet?
posted by newdaddy at 3:17 AM on June 14, 2012

Alfred Einstein was actually a highly esteemed 20th century musicologist who was one of the world's greatest experts on Mozart.

Yes, my father had this biography on a shelf I passed every day my whole life and even now whenever I have to talk about Albert Einstein, there's a quarter of a second of silent panic - Albert?Alfred?Albert? - and it's basically 50/50 what name actually comes out. People don't seem to notice, though.

Anyway, this woman is an asshole and Sweden's nonchalance about her antics, given this, is not encouraging.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 3:31 AM on June 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

In fact, it contains sounds that English speakers have to train for years to be able to produce. And you can't have your shame pillow until you can pronounce it!

Say "h'whems-could-eh" quickly, and you're pretty close.
posted by martinrebas at 4:09 AM on June 14, 2012

Something strange happens as a Scandinavian person living outside Scandinavia for a long time. To an extent, you start to feel less Danish/Swedish/Norwegian, and more just generically Scandinavian. Probably particularly if you're Danish, since there are so few of us anywhere, really (south of Spain aside). The long and the short of this is that I was thoroughly behind my skamspude when I read this, for even being from a nearby country.
posted by Dysk at 4:12 AM on June 14, 2012 [3 favorites]

What an odd young woman.
posted by Edison Carter at 6:26 AM on June 14, 2012

OK, I need to know where I can get a Skämskudde.
posted by wolfdreams01 at 6:27 AM on June 14, 2012

All I know is that a Skämskudde should be build it such a way that you can cover the eyes and the ears at the same time.
posted by Hactar at 6:58 AM on June 14, 2012

The current holder of @sweden just posted:

@sweden / Sonja ‏
It may be true I am third grading the spelling, but I am third basing the grammar.

I think I should move to Sweden.
posted by andreaazure at 7:23 AM on June 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wow. I, too, have had a vagina around my neck. Not everyone can say that. Cool!

For example, I cannot. Woe is me. I guess?
posted by maxwelton at 1:54 AM on June 14 [1 favorite +] [!]

Really? $20, same as in town.
posted by jaduncan at 7:41 AM on June 14, 2012

How long until she posts herself singing an ironic cover of "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"?
posted by book 'em dano at 8:54 AM on June 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

OK, I need to know where I can get a Skämskudde.

posted by snuffleupagus at 9:03 AM on June 14, 2012

That worked a second ago.

Ahem: get a Skämskudde.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:05 AM on June 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'd hate to be the person who gets chosen to have the account next. It's gotta be a lot of pressure to have to go on right after an act like this.
posted by umrain at 9:13 AM on June 14, 2012

This thread is bringing out all the Caesarian section babies! I, too, have never had a vagina around my neck.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:59 AM on June 14, 2012

You know what's amazing about Sweden (and a lot of Northern Europe) - here is this single mother of two kids who got pregnant at 19 and is "low educated" [her words] and... she speaks a second language pretty decently.

Your education system is really delivering when everyone in society can insult people fluently in two tongues.*

*Or, if this all turns out to be some Ali G type gag, that we aren't surprised that someone like Sonja can have a fluent grasp of English.
posted by MuffinMan at 10:25 AM on June 14, 2012

I want to know what she (and other Swedes) think of the Muppet character The Swedish Chef. Is it offensive?
posted by desjardins at 12:52 PM on June 14, 2012

desjardins: Me, and I suppose most other Swedes, don't consider The Swedish Chef character offensive. From what I can gather, that's how he's called in Sweden as well so I suppose we find him endearing or something.

The tedium of Bork Bork jokes is more offensive.
posted by rycee at 2:47 PM on June 14, 2012

Swedes are great, and have the distinction of being infinitely cooler than their neighbors to the west and having a much, much easier language to listen to than their neighbors to the south.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:33 PM on June 14, 2012

You know what's amazing about Sweden (and a lot of Northern Europe) - here is this single mother of two kids who got pregnant at 19 and is "low educated" [her words] and... she speaks a second language pretty decently.

What's so remarkable about that? There are many, many, many more bilingual people in North America than there are Swedes in Sweden.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:05 PM on June 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sweden is officially the most awesome country on the planet.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:06 PM on June 14, 2012

I want to know what she (and other Swedes) think of the Muppet character The Swedish Chef. Is it offensive?

Please understand that what Swedes find offensive is the existence of Norwegians.
Ethnic joke sensitivity is generally lower when you have an awesome country. Scandinavians are also well practiced at telling horribly dumb ethnic jokes on each other.

You know what's amazing about Sweden

When I went there to see family I picked up Swedish quite readily, but I had to insist on opportunities to use it. Everyone spoke English, from the random shop owners to the parking ticket policewoman. I think the whole trip my dad found one place where the person at the counter had inadequate English so brought her teenaged daughter over to handle things.

I was told the BBC was to blame, but a lot of them had American accents, too, so it may be movies and television.

See also: Lilyhammer, which is thoroughly bilingual (English and Norwegian). It's also, in a strange way, a Norwegian TV series telling a long series of somewhat thoughtful ethnic jokes on themselves (as compared to Americans). Sort of "Are we sure we're as great a society as we think we are?" It's an odd tone to get used to, but in many ways (back to Sweden) what Henning Mankell drove at with his Wallander novels (exploring the question "What has gone wrong with Swedish society?").
posted by dhartung at 1:00 AM on June 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

When I went there to see family I picked up Swedish quite readily, but I had to insist on opportunities to use it.

When I was in Sweden I got accosted by a very determined beggar. He first asked me for money in Swedish and I (lying), said, "Sorry, no Swedish" (in Swedish - I'm not very bright). But my Swedish has a German accent, because that was my first foreign language and I transfer the accent to everything that isn't English. So he asked me again in German. I replied in English, "I don't understand", and he switched to fluent English.

When even the beggars are trilingual, your country is doing SOMETHING right.
posted by lollusc at 2:31 AM on June 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Apparently giving the trilingual guy a job and a home ain't part of that something....?
posted by dabitch at 9:07 PM on June 15, 2012

Yeah, that's what I was trying to get across by emphasising "something". Doing the education thing right; but not solving homelessness (although there's a lot less of that in Sweden than most countries). I.e. doing "something" right; not "everything" right. I guess my emphasis didn't come across right, though.
posted by lollusc at 11:33 PM on June 15, 2012

No, it's my bad for snarking, I'm sorry. Homelessness is a recent phenomena in a country that didn't have them before, and it really bothers me that we now do.
posted by dabitch at 1:05 PM on June 16, 2012

Behind the fuzz: @Sweden’s Sonja Abrahamsson clears the air
posted by zarq at 8:02 AM on June 20, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sonja responds to Colbert. Sort of NSFW language. Best YouTube comment: "She's a few herrings short of a smorgasbord."
posted by desjardins at 2:07 PM on June 21, 2012 [1 favorite]