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Swedish word of the day: stammis

Catherine Edwards
Catherine Edwards - [email protected]
Swedish word of the day: stammis
Are you a stammis anywhere? Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Here's a Swedish word that could help you get discounts when dining and drinking in Sweden.

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Stammis means "regular", in the sense of being a regular guest or customer at a certain establishment.

You would most often hear it used in reference to bars, restaurants or cafés, but it also makes sense if you're talking about another kind of shop or service, such as a hairdresser, bookshop, or really anything else you use regularly, and it can also be translated as "loyal customer".

The transfer of money is not a requirement, so you can be a stammis på biblioteket (a regular at the library) or a stammis på forumet (a regular on the online forum).

It's a noun, so you could say something like jag är stammis på baren (I'm a regular at the bar) or här är han stammis (he's a regular here).

Stammis comes from the compound nouns stamkund (regular customer) or stamgäst (regular guest) but those two words sound much more formal than the colloquial stammis with the typical -is ending that pops up in a lot of Swedish slang words.

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Stam itself is a noun, which can refer to the trunk of a tree and can also mean "tribe/clan/family", so the idea is that if you're a stamkund, you're a customer who's almost part of the family.

Usually, you would say that stammis isn't a formal label; it's more about feeling a sense of attachment to the location and perhaps building up a relationship with the staff, but at some places there's a formal scheme so that you can sign up as a stammis in order to get discounts and special offers.

This might be by signing up to a loyalty card (bonuskort) or paying a membership fee that is worthwhile for frequent customers.

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Examples

De flesta av våra kunder är stammisar

Most of our customers are regulars

Jag känner mig som stammis här och det är så mysigt

I feel like a regular here and it's so nice

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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