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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: snömos

Winter is here and snow and slush reign in many parts of the country, so today we take a look at one of Sweden's words for snow.

Swedish word of the day: snömos
One of Sweden's many, many, many words for snow. Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Snömos defines two different kinds of snow, which are equally common in Sweden.

Mos means “pulp” or “mash” (you might recognise it from potatismos, meaning “mashed potatoes”) and snömos is the kind of greyish slushy substance that covers the streets a few days after heavy snowfall, where the initial snow has begun to melt and mix together with grit, mud, and dirt from people’s shoes and cars. 

There are several other names for what in English is called “slush”. You can also call it snösörja (literally “snow sludge”, which is a beautiful word since sörja as a verb means “to mourn”, giving it a sense of sadness), slask (sludge), or modd (melted snow which is usually mixed with mud).

But confusingly, snömos can also refer to fresh, fluffy snow. There’s a creamy dessert made of egg whites, cream, spices and fruit that is known as snömos too, and if you follow the recipe correctly it should look like fresh snow rather than days-old gritty slush. Sometimes, whipped cream itself is referred to as snömos, especially among Swedish-speaking Finns.

  • Don’t miss any of our Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading The Local’s new app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button.

Snömos can also be used in a metaphorical sense.

If you say that someone is serving or producing snömos, it means they are talking with beautiful imagery or powerful ideas, but no substance. It’s often used about politicians who offer plenty of rhetoric but less concrete options, or you might use it about a boss who talks about company values that are rarely acted upon, an article that fails to get to the point, or anyone else who uses meaningless phrases or empty promises. The idea behind this image is that the words are similar to fluffy fallen snow: they will soon melt to nothing.

Examples

Hon lovade mycket, men det var bara en massa snömos

She promised a lot, but it was just a load of empty talk

Snön har blivit till snömos

The snow has become slush

Looking for a good idea for a Christmas present?

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’s also possible to buy your copy from Amazon USAmazon UKBokus or Adlibris.

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For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: shit

Before you get offended by this potty-mouthed word of the day, we should probably tell you that this English swear word is a lot milder in Swedish.

Swedish word of the day: shit

The word shit in Swedish is, as you may have guessed, a loanword from English. It has its roots in Middle English schit and scythe, meaning “dung”, which in turn originated in a Proto-Indo-European word meaning to split, divide or separate.

There are a number of words in other European languages which have the same root, like schijt in Dutch, Scheiße in German, skidt in Danish, skit/skitt in Norwegian and the Swedish word skit.

So, why does Swedish have two words for shit? Essentially, they’re used (and pronounced) in different ways.

Shit, pronounced similarly to the English word but in a Swedish accent, is essentially only used as an exclamation, whether that’s for something good or bad, and most adults in Sweden wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they heard a small child saying it. 

  • Don’t miss any of The Local’s Swedish words and expressions of the day by downloading our app (available on Apple and Android) and then selecting the Swedish Word of the Day in your Notification options via the User button

It normally indicates some sort of surprise or shock, similar to “wow” or “oh my god” in English. You might also hear it in the phrase shit pommes frites, which literally translates as “shit, French fries!” which a Swedish speaker might use to express surprise: shit pommes frites, har du fått en ny mobil?! (“shit French fries, have you got a new phone?!”)

If you accidentally bumped into someone in a queue, for example, you could say shit, förlåt (shit, sorry), and if you came to some sort of realisation, you could say oj shit! (oh shit!). In general, saying shit would be acceptable even in professional situations with Swedes.

Skit, on the other hand, is pronounced with the sort of whooshing sj or sk-sound at the beginning, kind of like the word wheat, but with a whistle at the start.

It’s used in Swedish in broadly the same ways you’d use shit in English, both in the sense of actual faeces (as a noun and a verb) but also as a vulgar way to describe some sort of undesirable material or thing: jag har tröttnat på den här skiten (I’m tired of this shit) or ta bort din skit från bordet (take your shit off the table).

You may also have come across it in the term skit samma (the milder variant would be strunt samma), which can be translated as “never mind” or “forget it”, or skit också if something unfortunate happens (skit också, jag missade bussen – damn it, I missed the bus).

You can also describe something as being skit, use it in phrases like jag förstår inte ett skit (I don’t understand shit) and as an intensifier: han bankade skiten ur honom (he beat the shit out of him).

In contrast to shit, skit is generally considered less acceptable to use in a professional situation… although you will probably still hear children say it.

Example sentences:

Oj shit, spelar du in det här? 

Oh shit, are you recording this?

Ska vi inte åka snart? Shit, ja, klockan är redan 12!

Shouldn’t we leave soon? Shit, yeah, it’s already 12 o’clock!

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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