I would suggest that the five Nordic countries should definitely recombine as a kindness to the rest of the world. If they do this then the "Ten Happiest Countries" league tables would open up four new spots that could be occupied by other countries. :-)
For an American, this column is a fascinating look inside Finland, and Sweden as well, both countries unreachable but preferable alternatives to Mob Boss Trump's American nightmare. And Sanna Marin, so impressive, and now President Stubb who did the remarkable job of taming the beast in the White House, at least for a short time. Most impressive countries and leaders. Consider yourselves fortunate indeed!
A true arctic union would include a sixth country, Canada. Except that no Canadian would ever say "ice hockey", it's just "hockey", and then there is some weird game called "field hockey" that they play at private girls' schools. Perhaps that is an insuperable obstacle.
As an American who grew up in Sweden, I agree with everything he said, especially about “Finnkampen.”
The two countries are close in so many ways. Take the issue of Åland, where they speak Swedish, although are part of Finland, and the many ships going back and forth.
In the 80’s and 90’s many older Finnish people spoke Swedish, although some pretended not understand. To understand that you need to understand that historically the upper classes in Finland spoke Swedish while the common person spoke Finnish.
For that reason I think that the language question will be too difficult. Swedes will not learn Finnish and demanding that Finnish people speak Swedish will make Finnish a secondary language.
There are a few issues with the reunification, let me list them here
- Swedes has issues with Finnish, they may learn Finnish as long as they don't see how the words are spelled, then the they for some strange reason start to mispronounce words they just moments before excelled to pronounce when they didn't know how it was spelled.
- Then we have this Bastu thing, a lesser version of the world famous Sauna. In a Swedish Bastu the temperature is quite low and it's just meant for being a place where you dry yourself after a shower.
- Then we have the issue with the shape of the land, kind or looking like a mans genitalia, in countries like USA the new country will be banned from the Atlas. Including the oil rich Norwegians will not make much difference.
When resolved those issues, then we can raise the White and Blue flag here in the western part of the country too
One sees this idea of a new Kalmar Union sometimes and it is interesting. I recently read Dick Harrison's Kalmarunionen. It is a short overview of why the union was formed, and how it worked. The book is in Swedish and I don't think it has been translated. The union was a personal union. Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Finland was an integrated part) had the same queen (and later king). The foreign policy was common for the three countries but domestic policy separate for each kingdom. (The next time Sweden play Finland in ice hockey you now know what the three crowns signify :) ) If Sweden and Finland would form such a union we would need to figure out how to handle foreign policy. In Finland foreign policy is lead by the President but in Sweden it is the Prime Minister.
I'm a Swede living in Finland and one thing that i would like to add to your list of things objectively better in Finland is the availability of mämmi/memma. On the Swedish side the availability of surströmming (although this is becoming less so because of overfishing of herring for NON-essential use.) Finally, is really social mobility better in Finland? This entry surprised me.
The non-essential comment was mostly a joke. In my world surströmming is the most essential version of herring:) Surströmming (sour herring?) is eaten mostly in August/September and mostly in Northern Sweden. Recently it has become harder to find in the shops and some producers have stopped making it. They claim that the reason is overfishing of herring in the Baltic Sea.
The other thing Finland does better than Sweden is chocolate. For some reason Karl Fazer in Sweden is completely different. It tastes different (worse), less variety, and smaller blocks. And, of course, the Finnish Karl Fazer is superior to Maribou. I'm always having to stock up on chocolate on ferry over to Stockholm.
Minna, thanks for this post! I learned a lot about Finnish-Swedish history. I think there is always strength in greater numbers as long as both or multiple sidesare compatible and can work out differences. The world right now seems increasingly unstable fomented by the dried up Orange we elected, so any strengthening anywhere in the free world seems good to me. We, of course, have multiple reforms we ourselves need to make, most important being the ditching of the Electoral College so we can get to popular vote instead of this regional nonsense that resulted from the Civil War. 🇫🇮🇳🇴🇺🇸
We should be careful of wishing for redrawing of nation (state) borders. We all know what usually has happened beforehand. The yoghurt culture (!) differences was unknown to me, nice insight.
I would suggest that the five Nordic countries should definitely recombine as a kindness to the rest of the world. If they do this then the "Ten Happiest Countries" league tables would open up four new spots that could be occupied by other countries. :-)
Wow this would be quite the life hack !
For an American, this column is a fascinating look inside Finland, and Sweden as well, both countries unreachable but preferable alternatives to Mob Boss Trump's American nightmare. And Sanna Marin, so impressive, and now President Stubb who did the remarkable job of taming the beast in the White House, at least for a short time. Most impressive countries and leaders. Consider yourselves fortunate indeed!
A true arctic union would include a sixth country, Canada. Except that no Canadian would ever say "ice hockey", it's just "hockey", and then there is some weird game called "field hockey" that they play at private girls' schools. Perhaps that is an insuperable obstacle.
I think we could all agree on being absolutely unbeatable in (ice) hockey as a union.
🤣
A new Kalmar Union would create a major Nordic power astride Russias Northern marches. A great idea, but you're right, not very likely.
Sometimes unlikely ideas are implemented when enough people see the benefits -political will-huge!
As an American who grew up in Sweden, I agree with everything he said, especially about “Finnkampen.”
The two countries are close in so many ways. Take the issue of Åland, where they speak Swedish, although are part of Finland, and the many ships going back and forth.
In the 80’s and 90’s many older Finnish people spoke Swedish, although some pretended not understand. To understand that you need to understand that historically the upper classes in Finland spoke Swedish while the common person spoke Finnish.
For that reason I think that the language question will be too difficult. Swedes will not learn Finnish and demanding that Finnish people speak Swedish will make Finnish a secondary language.
Lovely post. Let's not forget the 150 years that Estonia was part of Sweden. We're probably too stubborn to join even if it would be for our own good.
No, they shouldn't. Much better to have the rivalries hiding a wish for closeness than to have them publicly boosting malign separatism.
Now of course Finland and Czechia would be a different matter entirely. One with too few vowels, one with too many. A match made in heaven.
You have a point there about the unequal distribution of vowels
There are a few issues with the reunification, let me list them here
- Swedes has issues with Finnish, they may learn Finnish as long as they don't see how the words are spelled, then the they for some strange reason start to mispronounce words they just moments before excelled to pronounce when they didn't know how it was spelled.
- Then we have this Bastu thing, a lesser version of the world famous Sauna. In a Swedish Bastu the temperature is quite low and it's just meant for being a place where you dry yourself after a shower.
- Then we have the issue with the shape of the land, kind or looking like a mans genitalia, in countries like USA the new country will be banned from the Atlas. Including the oil rich Norwegians will not make much difference.
When resolved those issues, then we can raise the White and Blue flag here in the western part of the country too
Very legitimate concerns
About the pronunciation issues I have sometimes wondered why B isn't called "ruotsalainen P" in Finnish 😉
One sees this idea of a new Kalmar Union sometimes and it is interesting. I recently read Dick Harrison's Kalmarunionen. It is a short overview of why the union was formed, and how it worked. The book is in Swedish and I don't think it has been translated. The union was a personal union. Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Finland was an integrated part) had the same queen (and later king). The foreign policy was common for the three countries but domestic policy separate for each kingdom. (The next time Sweden play Finland in ice hockey you now know what the three crowns signify :) ) If Sweden and Finland would form such a union we would need to figure out how to handle foreign policy. In Finland foreign policy is lead by the President but in Sweden it is the Prime Minister.
I'm a Swede living in Finland and one thing that i would like to add to your list of things objectively better in Finland is the availability of mämmi/memma. On the Swedish side the availability of surströmming (although this is becoming less so because of overfishing of herring for NON-essential use.) Finally, is really social mobility better in Finland? This entry surprised me.
Best regards,
Björn Ivarsson
Mämmi didn’t feature so high up on my list but fair enough, we do both have some culinary specialties !
What is over fishing of herring for nonessential use? As an American I’d like to know about that.
The non-essential comment was mostly a joke. In my world surströmming is the most essential version of herring:) Surströmming (sour herring?) is eaten mostly in August/September and mostly in Northern Sweden. Recently it has become harder to find in the shops and some producers have stopped making it. They claim that the reason is overfishing of herring in the Baltic Sea.
Bjorn, thanks for that info. I do know that overfishing is a big problem and seemingly global, but I don’t know much about the details
Kiitos for reminding me NEVER to drink coffee in Finland. Could not have imagined how it could be even worse than the Swedish one …
The Finnish one is not meant to be enjoyed… it’s as dark and bitter as life itself
😂
Well, you would first have to settle the snus-debate...
The other thing Finland does better than Sweden is chocolate. For some reason Karl Fazer in Sweden is completely different. It tastes different (worse), less variety, and smaller blocks. And, of course, the Finnish Karl Fazer is superior to Maribou. I'm always having to stock up on chocolate on ferry over to Stockholm.
Minna, thanks for this post! I learned a lot about Finnish-Swedish history. I think there is always strength in greater numbers as long as both or multiple sidesare compatible and can work out differences. The world right now seems increasingly unstable fomented by the dried up Orange we elected, so any strengthening anywhere in the free world seems good to me. We, of course, have multiple reforms we ourselves need to make, most important being the ditching of the Electoral College so we can get to popular vote instead of this regional nonsense that resulted from the Civil War. 🇫🇮🇳🇴🇺🇸
Would Norway and Sweden then reunite?
Everyone should reunite !
I’m with Draghi, too.
We should be careful of wishing for redrawing of nation (state) borders. We all know what usually has happened beforehand. The yoghurt culture (!) differences was unknown to me, nice insight.
Muistelen enoni Paavo Laitisen olleen mukana ideoimassa samaa 90-luvulla https://www.kaleva.fi/ruotsi-on-toista-maatamutta-silti-suomen-onni/2446809. Alkuperäinen artikkeli oli muistaakseni Kanavassa. Kirjoittajilla tuntui olevan epäilyttävän hauskaa keskenään ajatusta kehitellessään.
Mahtavaa, kiitos ! Laitan lukulistalle 😄