(edit title) How shallow and insecure are Swedes? Solidarity or not? Options

[CTIDinÅrsta]

Not my type and anyway she was in the back and the missus was watching me

Rookie mistake there Rick, sorry.
You should have put the wife in the back and dropped her off first so she can start cooking - then taken her colleague home.

 

 

[craicen]

Just my comment, regarding the Anglo Saxon bit.. Brits are very very very very different to Americans in social behaviour!! I'm a Brit, we don't go round smili ... (show full quote)

Just my comment, regarding the Anglo Saxon bit.. Brits are very very very very different to Americans in social behaviour!! I'm a Brit, we don't go round smiling at people, but while we're being general here, we tend to respond to smiles and acts of generosity with likewise gestures. That is seldom the case in Stockholm which I feel is a shame. And many Swedes themselves including my GF also think this and are often shocked and disappointed after living abroad or even being abroad on holiday to non "Anglo Saxon" countries.. ... (hide full quote)

I can't speak for the Yankees but I do know that Southerners don't go around smiling at people all day either. And exude a more genuine friendliness than your average Brit, though I have found Brits to be generally polite and friendly too just in a different way. You can for sure find differences from town to town and region to region in both places. When you say Brit are you talking about Scots, Highlanders or Lowlanders or Islanders or are you talking about the North or South, London or Birmingham. You get the point.

But when it comes to saying thanks, sorry, please, and even ma'am and sir no one beats a Rebel (Southerner). In fact as the last place in America where the White population is majority British descended I would say that at least some British mannerisms are stronger there than in most of Britian. Sorry Limeys.

I do know that the yankee stewardess on Delta Airlines are the rudest English speaking people I have ever met. They seriously need lessons.

[jim747]

All Swedes, 100% of them, are <-----> this shallow and <---------> this insecure.. Sorted.

Yeh, I can't understand why anyone should be surprised about how shy, insecure, private, shallow and mannerless a population can be when living in a semi-communist state.

[Freja]

... when living in a semi-communist state.

Comrade, could I draft you for the revolution so that we finally can realise the full out communist state that you came here to enjoy? We need more people like you with a burning desire to turn this country around!

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Ho hum. I think there's a good case to be made that people who think their own cultural values are the only ones available and/or necessarily correct are insecure and shallow, or perhaps just very very naive and ignorant. Such people are best off staying where they were born.

[Lt. Gonville Bromhead]

Yes, every one of the 10 million Swedes in this country are shallow, unfriendly and insecure. Oh and also all wear the same clothes. And are unable to speak unless they are drunk.

Just like back in England where we all drink tea at 11am, say please and thank you continuously, dislike having sexual intercourse and all eat Roast Beef. All 64 million of us.

Do some people really have that limited intelligence that they go to a foreign country which has a different language and customs and expect to get off the plane to a round of applause and a tight-knit circle of friends within one week?

These 'Are all Swedes...' threads are boring and embarrassing to read.

[Freja]

Yes, every one of the 10 million Swedes in this country are shallow, unfriendly and insecure. Oh and also all wear the same clothes. And are unable to speak unless they are dr ... (show full quote)

Yes, every one of the 10 million Swedes in this country are shallow, unfriendly and insecure. Oh and also all wear the same clothes. And are unable to speak unless they are drunk.

Just like back in England where we all drink tea at 11am, say please and thank you continuously, dislike having sexual intercourse and all eat Roast Beef. All 64 million of us.

Do some people really have that limited intelligence that they go to a foreign country which has a different language and customs and expect to get off the plane to a round of applause and a tight-knit circle of friends within one week?

These 'Are all Swedes...' threads are boring and embarrassing to read. ... (hide full quote)

Indeed. Refreshing!

[VikingHumpingWitch]

These 'Are all Swedes...' threads are boring and embarrassing to read.

Really.

I can't find my UK passport, having stashed it safely away in a now-forgotten place last time I came back from London. Are all English crap at storing important documents?

[Freja]

Must be as that is the 'logic' we are running with here, right?

[Rick Methven]

Rookie mistake there Rick, sorry. . You should have put the wife in the back and dropped her off first so she can start cooking - then taken her colleague home.

No mistake at all

Here she and you are welcome to her. PM me for her phone number I'm sure she's open to any offer

[Rick Methven]

I believe her mother is also available

[Freja]

No mistake at all. Here she and you are welcome to her. PM me for her phone number I'm sure she's open to any offer.

Rick, was that YOU that drove me home!? Really?

Well, no need to ask Rick for my number, just send me a private message. Mom says hi also and she hasn't had anything for a long long time so she is open for a quick deal.

[craicen]

Yes, every one of the 10 million Swedes in this country are shallow, unfriendly and insecure. Oh and also all wear the same clothes. And are unable to speak unless they are dr ... (show full quote)

Yes, every one of the 10 million Swedes in this country are shallow, unfriendly and insecure. Oh and also all wear the same clothes. And are unable to speak unless they are drunk.

Just like back in England where we all drink tea at 11am, say please and thank you continuously, dislike having sexual intercourse and all eat Roast Beef. All 64 million of us.

Do some people really have that limited intelligence that they go to a foreign country which has a different language and customs and expect to get off the plane to a round of applause and a tight-knit circle of friends within one week?

These 'Are all Swedes...' threads are boring and embarrassing to read. ... (hide full quote)

I think you miss the point. I can't speak for everyone but in general this is a boring place full of boring people. No not everyone but it is just part of the culture. That is what turns people off, the boring anti-social nature of the swedish mentality. Plus the cheapness, the lack of critical thinking, the zombie like obedience to the experts, etc...

I have traveled and lived around quite a bit and I like a more open people. That is all. And I'm sure that many others concur. I have never been to a place where ex pats have such negative attititudes to the people and culture as they do towards Swedes. Lets face it, they are a special people, formed by their history (mostly their Puritan Lutheran church) and they don't really jell well with anyone besides others of a similar background, Norwegians and maybe Finns.

I for one am not saying ALL Swedes are this and that but one can generalize about a national mentality. Its called Ethnology. Ever heard of it?

[Lt. Gonville Bromhead]

Well, I'm not going to get in an argument about it as we're clearly not going to agree.

I spent 6 years of my life in the army fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan on and off, living in shit billets, sleeping in vehicles and seeing a lot of harrowing things. Every day that I am here in Gothenburg with my family now, I appreciate it. Sure, bad, unlucky and upsetting things still happen, but if you're spending time being negative about people or a country that you can easily leave (love or work are not an excuse to be constantly miserable about being here), then it seems a waste of your life. Maybe things are just too easy for you here and you've got too much time on your hands for reflection.

Ethnology is crap - people are different and can't be fitted in banal descriptive boxes developed in the Victorian science era, it's a false science to think so - if anything I've found Swedes extremely welcoming to me in comparison to other places I have been. If you've found yourself in a situation where people can be stereotyped and you don't like it, then just fcuking leave. Life's too short.

[craicen]

Haha, well why didnt you just leave Afganistan when you felt like it? Oh, you had obligations and contracts and such? Right. I happen to have three children that I love to death here. Is that a good enough reason for you mate?

And yea, I'm sure Sweden seems like paradise compared to Afganistan.

I compare Swedes to other European peoples because that is the only fair comparison.