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En svensk tiger
- dvh 7y agoNot to be confused with Swedish lion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_Gripsholm_Castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_Gripsholm_Castle
- mongol 7y agoBetter picture : https://recondito.org/2017/05/12/lion-at-gripsholm-castle/ https://recondito.org/2017/05/12/lion-at-gripsholm-castle/
- lqet 7y agoIn Switzerland during WWII, the population was advised to be suspicious of anyone not speaking the local dialect, especially of they asked for directions. The army removed all traffic signs in case of an invasion [0] and stores did not sell road maps anymore. Swiss German is (as most dialects) notoriously difficult to learn in later life for speakers of other dialects. (Slightly related story: some years ago, I traveled back to Germany by train. A few minutes past the border, German border control went through the train and asked me for my ID card. I then realized that I had left my German ID card in the scanner at home a few days earlier because I needed a copy of it. The border control then naturally went through my backpack, which (what I then realized with horror) contained ca. 30 packs of matches. A few weeks earlier, we had a BBQ at a local lake and realized on the way that we had no matches to lit the fire, so we went to the next supermarket and just bought the cheapest offer, which happened to be a pack of 30. So there I was, crossing the border with no identification and nothing on me but a backpack full of matches. When they asked why I had so many matches on me, my 20-year old brain went into full self-destruction mode and I stuttered the following: "He-he-he, its not enough to build a bomb, isn't it?". Luckily, I have an accent which makes it absolutely clear that I grew up around a major city in my home state. After asking me some questions about my birth town, other personal facts and making some calls, they didn't even fine me. I am quite sure that this would've been slightly more complicated if I had spoken perfect standard German, or had a foreign accent.) [0] https://ulis-buecherecke.ch/pdf_infos_zur_schweiz/die_schweiz_1939-1945.pdf https://ulis-buecherecke.ch/pdf_infos_zur_schweiz/die_schwei...
- draugadrotten 7y agoAs recently as 2003, Swedish citizens abroad were sometimes forced to sing the Swedish tune "Små grodorna" at the Swedish Embassy to prove they were indeed Swedes. ( Source: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/BJWj4l/tvingades-sjunga-sma-grodorna https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/BJWj4l/tvingades-sjunga... ) Now, not even two decades later, Sweden's population is comprised of 18% born outside Sweden and 24% with a non-Swedish background. (source https://www.migrationsinfo.se/fragor-och-svar/hur-manga-utrikes-fodda-sverige/ https://www.migrationsinfo.se/fragor-och-svar/hur-manga-utri... )
- INTPenis 7y agoI was born in the heart of Sweden in 1985 and I've lived in Sweden my entire life. I don't know the 2nd part of Små grodorna. Små grodorna, små grodorna, så lustiga att se. Små grodorna, små grodorna ...??? And the next thing I remember is that stupid noise they make as they dance around the may pole.
- carlhjerpe 7y ago2x: Ej öron ej öron och svansar havar de - Born 94, I believe this is the second part.
- wingerlang 7y agoIt is, but I had to look it up (born late 80's).
- uberswe 7y agoDidn't think I would see Swedish on HN, awesome! I never heard about this when growing up in Sweden during the 90's so it's interesting to learn about it here.
- tapland 7y agohttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jEVgOCkt13Y/VJra6W0K-fI/AAAAAAAAHIw/7PwH8cCNRKk/s1600/kbj_tiger.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jEVgOCkt13Y/VJra6W0K-fI/AAAAAAAAHI... You have probably heard about it and will recognize it around after this HN post =)
- scbrg 7y agoI saw it several times when growing up in the 80's, but I was apparently too stupid to see the pun. I just kept thinking "Tiger? We don't have any damn tigers, this makes no sense." Oh, I wish we'd had Wikipedia back then, so I wouldn't have had to feel like a complete moron when the penny finally dropped...
- phamilton 7y agoI think about the line from Sverige, by Kent: En tiger som skäms And of course the cover of that album (Vapen och ammunition) being a black and white photo of a tiger.
- timwaagh 7y agoso Tiger of Sweden clothes are actually for really quiet people?
- tomlu 7y agoYou are probably joking, but in case you are not the play on words only works in this particular configuration (present tense, "a Swedish tiger" vs "a Swede [keeps] quiet".
- gargarplex 7y agoCould one also say "Tig er av Sweden?" :P i.e., Hush, y'all!
- mstade 7y agoSadly no, but good effort! What you wrote would literally translate to "Silence your of Sweden". If you want hush, I'd probably use "tyst" instead of "tig" as the former is more colloquial. If you squint and have a bit of an open mind, maybe you can construe your sentence as something like "Silence, you Swedes!" but it's a bit of a stretch.
- yakshaving_jgt 7y agoTake a stroll through central Gothenburg and you'll find "Tiggare of Sweden". :)
- gargarplex 7y agoNära skjuter ingen hare! Inga ordvitspoäng för mig idag då. Varken särskrivningspoäng eller ordvitspoäng :P
- hjorthjort 7y agoQuestion to all the non-swedes: why do you find this interesting? Is it the play on words? War propaganda in general being interesting?
- whalesalad 7y agoHej, a non-Swede: I was incredibly disappointed in the wiki article and don’t find this remotely interesting.
- outside1234 7y agoDid the Swedish actually fight in world war II? Didn't they just roll over and let the Germanys roll through to Norway? And if that's true, what was there to keep secret?
- svrtknst 7y agoUnnecessarily hostile comment. Sweden remained neutral through the war and did not partake in the fighting, as far as I know. They didn't allow troop movements into Norway, but did allow troops to move through from Norway, into Finland. They allowed off-duty German soldiers to travel between Norway and Germany, and sold iron ore to Germany. They also shared intelligence with the Allied forces, helped train Danish and Norwegian troops to liberate Denmark, allowed Allied forces use of its airbases, took in a lot of Jewish refugees from Norway and Denmark, The Swedish Red Cross sent buses to evacuate concentration camp inmates, and RAoul Wallenberg used his diplomatc status to save tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary as well.
- outside1234 7y agoI didn't mean it as hostile - it is just a statement of fact. To the original point, if they were "neutral", then what secrets did they have to hold? What does "off duty" even mean in a world war? Not destroying Sweden but allowing them to bring ammunition through to pound Norway? And if they were "neutral", why were they helping the Allies? All in all, your comment does not add up.
- detaro 7y agoCould you explain why you think a neutral country would not have secrets? E.g. currently being neutral doesn't mean you don't have preparations on what to do if you get attacked (indeed, both sides in WW2 considered an invasion of Sweden) and would like to keep those secret. You want to keep your diplomatic strategies secret to avoid them being exploited against you. Being neutral does neither necessarily mean "you allow everyone to do whatever they want in your country" nor "you do not interact with the warring parties at all".
- 7y ago
- abbe98 7y agoIn addition to being printed on posters and similar public media it were also printed on letter paper, suitcases and envelopes.
- mmhsieh 7y agoa tiger is not an animal i associate with quietness. a swedish fox would make more sense.
- yakshaving_jgt 7y agoExcept “En Svensk räv” only has a single meaning, which is the literal one. This shows you didn’t actually read the [very short] Wikipedia page on this.
- mmhsieh 7y agoi did read the very short page, but still, not being a swede, i suppose i just don't get it.
- yakshaving_jgt 7y agoYou don’t need any knowledge of the Swedish language. It is explained on the Wikipedia page. “Att tiga” means to keep quiet. One would say “Han/hon tiger” to mean “He/she is keeping quiet”. The word “tiger” in Swedish is also how they say the animal. That’s why it has a double meaning. It’s literally the first sentence of the second paragraph on the page. > In Swedish, the word svensk can mean both the adjective "Swedish" and the noun "Swede" while tiger can mean either the noun for the animal or the present tense of the verb tiga ("to keep silent", or more colloquially to "keep one's mouth shut"), giving the poster the double meaning "a Swedish tiger" or "a Swede keeps silent".
- mmhsieh 7y agoyeah, i do get that, but maybe my mind processes it a bit differently. in my mind, tigers = roaring, aggressiveness. that just overcomes the psychological effect of the wordplay for me.
- abbe98 7y ago"tiger" in Swedish means both tiger and "being quiet".
- xwowsersx 7y agoAron Flam & Henrik Jönsson recently talked about this on Dave Rubin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRBfoQRdpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRBfoQRdpY
- ComputerGuru 7y agoI didn’t see mention of the obvious double “entendre” in the design as well, with the rather clear implication that prison awaits those that dare not comply.
- mrisoli 7y agoWhen I first started my job in Stockholm there was a printout of this tiger logo with the saying that 10-12 were quiet hours, I knew about the saying but I didn't know about the history behind it, quite interesting!
- bjoli 7y agoIn the early 2000s I made a t-shirt print with someone holding a seagull in front of a Swedish flag. The caption was "En svensk håller truten", which means both "A swede holds the seagull" and "a swede shuts up". I gave it away and a random stranger online that was a bit more entrepreneurial than me printed it and made what 17-year old me considered a fortune. Googling I think I actually found it:https://i.imagefra.me/88bf68ck https://i.imagefra.me/88bf68ck It is too long ago for me to remember how it looked exactly and the quality leaves things to the imagination, but iirc I actually drew that in an ancient version of gimp.
- demosito666 7y agoCould it be that Kent references this tiger in their song "Sverige" [1]? Ber om ursäkt from Swedish persons ITT if the question sounds stupid. [1] https://kent.nu/latar/sverige/ https://kent.nu/latar/sverige/
- mnsc 7y agoI want to comment on this but...
- JoachimS 7y agoIf you enjoy this, there is a more recent version you might appreciate: http://i.imgur.com/16N9R.png http://i.imgur.com/16N9R.png