Related videos .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw3e64sosEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1hXbGXKyng

You forgot one thing: There are more gays in Sweden than in Finland.

I just found your blog, this seems to be really funny and interesting. As a Finn living in Russia I’m very much looking forward to your post on Finnish-Russian relations

I am not sure you’d get such a developed response out of a Swede. They probably would just say we’re shy and like drinking.

I am not sure that the Swedes see Russia as their real rival. I am also not so sure that the Swedes really, at the end of the day, care nearly as much about the rivalry with us as we do about our rivalry with them. We’ve always been the “little brother” in the relationship, secretly I suspect we’d quite prefer them to take more interest of us. If you follow the Swedish media, you will see much less is reported about what is going on in Finland than is the case the other way around. The Swedes also have a rivalry with the Norwegians which vies for their attention. Although, again, the Norwegians are much more in our situation; they have historically been the little brother too.

If I am going to continuing stereotyping, the Swedes actually are a trifle arrogant. They don’t really have a complex against any country. Quite the contrary, they feel sorry for everybody else not having the good fortune to be Swedish. If you look at their foreign policy since the second world war, it very much reflects that attitude. Of course, for us (and the Norwegians), this kind of attitude is more than a little annoying!

Swedes are openly racist against Finns. There was a row over Swedish schoolbooks that said pretty much directly that Finns are alcoholics, violent and undeveloped. This racism has a long history; in fact the Nazi movement was inspired by Swedish official “rasbiologi”; look up for example Herman Bernhard Lundborg, the founder of the “Swedish Eugenics Agency”. This attitude can be found, although to a lesser degree, also among Finland-Swedes.

In reality the knowledge Swedes have about Finland is pretty much nonexistent. Nordics are generally intensely chauvinistic and Sweden is no exception, although their liberalism changes the way this is expressed.

This is what Swedes think about Finns:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qzBcolHBjI

“Sweden has Volvo and Saab.”

Neither is owned by Swedes nowadays.

“Sweden is part of Scandinavia. ” Well so is Finland.

Rovio, no, it’s not. That was the whole point.

In case anyone is curious, the “Swedes are gay” thing comes from the times when homosexuality was criminalised in Finland but wasn’t in Sweden. The papers called it the Swedish Disease even though in reality there probably were just as many homosexuals in Finland, they just weren’t allowed to be public about it, and some of them even moved to Sweden to be able to be open about their sexuality and have proper social life. So yeah, Swedes got that reputation just for not being homophobic.

I think the “Swedes are Gay” is also due to the scandal with the boyscout and the king http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haijby_affair

“Search through any old-timer’s bookshelf and you’re sure to find, “Swedish War Heroes”. Open it to find a book full of blank pages.”

I knew I created a monster

ABBA is one of the severest crimes against humanity. Sweden should be arraigned on it in the international court of justice for allowing such a band to exist.

A Swede is watching a Finland-Russia game. Finland wins. The Swede exclaims, “Thank goodness the Russians didn’t win!”

A Finn is watching a Sweden-Russia game. Sweden wins. The Finn exclaims, “Fu¤%&”ing Swedes!”

Phil

nice post … keen to see your post on Russia. Personally I think Finland owes more to Russia than they’re willing to admit. Muchos influence in the legal system there. Did you know that Finland was the holder of the largest collection of Russian literature outside of Russia? Finland was a hotspot for russian studies in the coldwar.

You forgot…The Swedes have meatballs I always laughed every time I would say ‘swedish meatballs’ and Finns would say, well, they’re really Finnish meatballs – the Swedes stole them from us.

And if you ever watch “Rigie” (highly recommended – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_(TV_miniseries) ) it’s a creepy story, but hilarious in that the Swedish doctor is an asshole and the donor liver is from a dead Finn .

Muchos influence in the legal system there.
Our legal system (and much else) are almost entirely based on Sweden’s, based on the fact that they have their foundations during the period of time in which the territory that today is known is Finland was an integral part of the Swedish kingdom. The provisions of the Swedish government instrument were even cited as the legalistic basis for independence, i.e. there was a legal belief that the instrument was still in force in Finland (as the Tsar had granted that existing laws, customs and religion could continue at the Borgå Diet in 1809 after Sweden lost Finland to Russia) at this time (i.e. 1917), despite the fact that the same document had been reformed and replaced in the parts of Sweden that were not lost to Russia. In other words, one of the cornerstones of the Swedish legal and government system remained in force in Finland even after it had been repealed in Sweden itself!

We love swedes and there’s always space for healthy competition

There isn’t really much influence of the Russian legal system in Finland. There are, nevertheless, some things inherited from the autonomy era. While the consideration of Finland as a separate entity (i.e. not a part of Swedish or Russian heartland) is the most important, there are others. The railway system is the most prominent example: the railway gauge is Russian. Many parts of the modern civil service were founded before 1917 but after 1809; Bank of Finland, National Land Survey, and also, the central government of Finland. The layout and architecture of many modern Finnish cities, e.g. Helsinki, is from the autonomy era, as is the modern parliament (although it didn’t have political power before independence, because of the Czars). In general the autonomy era wasn’t bad, instead, it was an era of nation-building.

Hi,

please point out Finns and Estonians also

Finland is NOT part of Scandinavia.. Scandinavia consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The one thing that Finland has in common with these countries is that it is part of the Nordic Region, geographically speaking.

I’d love to read more about the mistreatment of Estonians by the Finns. From my personal knowledge and experience from among Finn, Swe, Estonian and Russian friends (at least nowadays and not during the Soviet times) is that they treat Estonians more friendlier than Finns do.

Plus, it was the Swedish nobility that pushed very strongly for Finnish identity, language, etc., after they gained independence. The fact of Finland housing books. teching language courses I think was merely to keep their combatant neighbors happy.. It was a polical move more than anything.

“it was the Swedish nobility that pushed very strongly for Finnish identity”

Swedish nobility? Who?

Strictly geographically speaking the only Scandinavian countries are Sweden and Norway.

“Scandinavia” is not a geographical concept, as it’s mostly used here up North. The modern sense of the word originates from a movement called “Scandinavism” among the elites of Sweden, Denmark and Norway at the end of the 19th century – they wanted to unite the three countries seen to share common roots into one kingdom. Finland was out of the plan as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire (1809-1917). (Sidenote: the Nordic co-operation leading into the contemporary Nordic Council etc. started after the Finnish independence.)

But the concept is a hazy one: additionally there’s the geographical meaning (Sweden, Norway and the Northwestern Finland) and many special uses like “Scandinavian kitchen” or “Scandinavian literature” which include also Finland. The English-speakers seem to use “Scandinavia” and “Nordic countries” as interchangeable terms.

So it depends of the context if you can call Finland “Scandinavian” or not. Truth is that modern Finland is much more closer to Sweden than Estonia. With Estonia we share a similar major language and stories about common ancestry. With Sweden we share the state model, law system, economical structures, political connection, kitchen, democratical tradition, religional tradition, literal tradition etc. – nearly everything! That’s not a surprise as we formed a single kingdom when the modern state and the modern lifestyle developed. The history (and taken influences) of Estonia is very different starting from the Middle Ages, state-building.

Even the languages (Finnish and Swedish) aren’t deep inside that different: the surface structures, words and grammatics are dissimilar, but the semantics (concepts) are very close. It’s easy to translate from Swedish to Finnish – we think with similar concepts under the superficially different looking words/sentences. The same is not true of the French language, for instance.

I wondered if the Swedes held on to Finland more longer than the Russians? Would Sweden given Finland earlier independence like they did with Norway? I suggest things would had been a little different.

The IMF http://bit.ly/c8IcWX puts Finland ahead of Sweden in GDP (nominal) per capita for 2009, meaning that in fact Finns have more purchasing power.

nice blog and thanks for inspiring ideas..

Your Payment of $1.5million USD

UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION UNIT IN AFFILIATION WITH WORLD BANK From: Special Envoy to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

Attention: Beneficiary

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and family?, You may not understand why this mail came to you. We have been having a meeting for the past 7 months which just ended 2 days ago with the secretary to the UNITED NATIONS. This email is to all the people that have been victim in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS IN Affiliation with WORLD BANK have agreed to compensate you with the sum of US$ $1.5million, for self support.This is regarding the draws he organized before he left the office to help individuals to own a self charity organization also for your to build your Personal Company/organization so as to help the less privileged in there society.

This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract, inheritance & lotto sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc. We found your name in the list of those who are to benefit from these compensation exercise and that is why we are contacting you, this have been agreed upon and have been signed You are advised to contact Mr JIM WELL of a Courier Apex in Benin Republic, as he is our representative in Benin, contact him immediately for your Cheque/ International Bank Draft of USD$1.5m .

This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose ok?, so he will send it to you and you can clear it in any bank of your choice. Therefore, you should send him your full Name and telephone number your correct mailing address and ID to avoid wrong delivery, where you want him to send the Draft to you. Contact Mr. JIM WELL immediately for your Cheque at the given address below:

Comapny Name: Apex Courier
Contact Person MR LOUIS MOORE
E-MAIL: louis.moore582@gmail.com Tel;+229 97482047

I apologize on behalf of my organization for any delay you might have encountered in receiving your fund in the past. Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hoping to hear from you as soon as you cash your Bank Draft. Making the world a better place.Regards,
Regards,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
http://www.unorg/sg

Most Swedes want a reunion with Finland and many swedes think the loss of Finland to Russia was the biggest historic downfall of Sweden.The intermarriage between swedes and finns in Sweden is rampant. You don’t marry people you hate, so finns and swedes get along very well in Sweden, but not in Finland for some reason. I blame that on grumpy finns.

All I can say is: Swedes ARE gay. During my first year in Finland a guy from Sweden complain with me telling me: “You only talk to girls!”. What kind of a man would say that?

Well, apparently, I really only talk to girls (A Swedish man counts for half a girl).

OMG this stuff again.
People get over it: Finland owes a lot to Russia, and Sweden does not hate Russia. If anything, they are more like good neighbors with some muddy history. That is it.
And Finland is not Scandinavia. It is a Nordic country, it is not part of that peninsula. Look it up.
Furthermore, why do you think Finns are blonde and blue-eyed? Because of Russian and Swedish presence! If not for those two European peoples, Finns would be Asian, just like their language.

“Furthermore, why do you think Finns are blonde and blue-eyed? Because of Russian and Swedish presence! If not for those two European peoples, Finns would be Asian, just like their language.”

Hey, hey, the Baltic Finns have been in Europe at least as long as the others so we’re European too. Also, saying that Finnish is an Asian language is pretty much the same as saying that hindi is European.

And according to the genetic studies there’s not much Russian/Slavic mixture in Finns. The genetic link to Russia goes mostly via Finnic tribes in North-West Russia, so it’s more like vice versa.

The most blu eyed and blonde country in the world ?

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/214-the-blonde-map-of-europe/

http://westernparadigm.wordpress.com/2008/02/26/the-blue-eye-map-of-europe/

fuck you!

ffuck you!

fuck you!!

WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT?! IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY?!?! THEN ITS A BIG FAIL..

you have absolutely NO IDEA what you’re talking about, asshole!

This article is very truthful. There is always intense competition between Finns and Swedes. But the competition is between Finnish and Swedish men. The women have no part in it. Also the Finns and Swedes who have a bad attitude towards each other tend to be men. Jealousy plays a big role in this especially on the Finnish side. There are also Swedes who seem obsessed with causing a rift between Finns and Swedes. But there is also a special bond between Finns and Swedes that other Nordic states don´t share. There are 450 000 first and second generation Finnish immigrants in Sweden. Marriages between ethnic Finns and Swedes are common. The 280 000 Swedish-speaking Finns descend mostly from Swedes who came here in Medieval times. In addition to that Western Finns and part of Finns in other areas (especially South) are closely related to Swedes. There is also a deep brotherhood between Swedes and Finns.

I watched a documentary a while ago about parents of people who have committed a homicide. There was a couple in their late fifties to early sixties. They lived in Sweden and the woman was a Swede and the man an ethnic Finn. They had two adult sons. One was doing fine in life, but the other one was suffering from mental problems. He had killed his wife and was either in jail or mental institution, I can´t remember which. The couple had suffered tremendously. Their grandchildren had lost their mother, they had lost many of their friends and I guess their social standard and reputation to some degree. The man had problems with his leg and was walking with a walking stick. After everything they had gone through they still loved and supported each other and their son. The deep loyalty between them clearly showed in the documentary. This is an example of the special bond between Swedes and Finns.

Despite the jealousy issues, Finns and Swedes are close brothers. And brothers sometimes fight and compete with each other, right?

IKEA… that’s enough reason to hate Sweden.

Check this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw3e64sosEg

Phil, you have gone very deep in your analysis, cheers!

I’m a finn and lived on many places in Finland. Mostly finns live without any contacts with swedes-Finns or swedes. So contacts with them are very rare. Commonly finns have internationally contacts with Russians, Germans or Americans or even chinese, but depends on your residence or working company. So your comments about finnish thoughts about swediish-minority or swedish are very subjective and rare, of course somebody can think as you wrote.

About the jealous, there is nothing to be jealous. In swedes-speaking “blocks” are rich people as is in finnish-speaking. I know a lot of swedish-speaking people and they are all ordinary citizens as are finnish-speaking finns.

The problem is that Finns would see them as a lojal group for finnish nationalism, think as finns, be a patriotic finn and etc. but they do not so.

Swedish-speaking finns are some kind of chameleons, one time they are very patriotic and other time they want to be a swede and hate everything considering about Finland. This duplicitous makes them look like silly and lowmoral people. And finns don’t like this at all, they are not really finns.

I really dislike Finland – I’d much rather live in Sweden!

-South African living in Finland

Sweden basically became a wimpy country / kingdom / whatever it is after it lost Finland, nice people though, even if they are not so manly.

It’s true the Swedes can get credit ABBA; the Finns get credit for Angry Birds!

“Sweden has Volvo And Saab”
Yeah? well finland has KOENIGZEGG. the craziest supercars known to man

“Well for about 150 years in recent history, James Bond was Sweden, that gunfire was Russia, and that human shield was Finland! Sweden sat carefree at the summer cottage while that buffer zone known as Finland protected them from imperialistic Russia.  “NO NO NO!!!

FOR FUCK SAKE!
I’m really pissed to read this as many of my ancestors fought in finland against the russians, SWEDEN PROTECTED FINLAND FOR 700 YEARS!!
Not the other way around..

MY SWEDISH ANCESTORS FOUGHT AND DIED FIGHTING THE RUSSIANS!!
My grandfather went as a volonteer to fight against the soviet union in Finland 1939!

I dont bother if a 14-year old finnish boy say “sweden are gay” or if Finland win in ice hockey.
 
HOWEVER I DO CARE IF YOU SPREAD LIES ABOUT SWEDENS HISTORY!
THATS LIKE SPITTING AT MY ANCESTORS GRAVES!
 
FINLAND WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE SO “WELL” IN THE WINTER WAR WITHOUT SWEDISH HELP!
 
(Finland lost both the winter war and the contioniation war and then cowardly backstabbed their german allies)

well, fuck you then

Well, both Sweden and Finland have amazing punk bands….Hooray for killed by finnish hardcore and D-Beat!!!

be happy assholes.