SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: varuberg

Understanding this peculiar word will help you to avoid accidentally alienating people in Sweden.

Swedish word of the day: varuberg
If you want to annoy a Swede, try building one of these at the cash register. Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Varuberg is one of those concepts that doesn’t have a snappy translation in many other languages. It refers to a heap of items piled up on a supermarket conveyor belt, and is a big no-no when shopping in Sweden.

Perhaps you’ve already learned that berg means “mountain” (from the Old Norse word bjarg), but it also means “heap” or “pile”. Meanwhile, varu- comes from the noun vara, which means “product”; an item being bought or sold. So varuberg is basically “mountain of goods”.

You can hear it used in general, for example to describe large shopping displays or the items in someone’s cart/trolley, but it’s most often used to talk about how people arrange their goods on the conveyor belt before paying.

You usually hear varuberg combined with the verb bygga (to build) rather than göra (to make) – and it’s often preceded by inte (don’t) since most Swedes agree that the preferred way to arrange your shopping is in a neat line.

  • 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

You might be tempted to roll your eyes at the concept of a varuberg and chalk this up to Swedes loving conformity and rule-following, but some studies have shown that a varuberg can actually be a health issue for checkout staff. It delays the checkout process, since staff need to dismantle the “mountain” and scan each item one by one, and these repetitive motions can, over time, cause damage to their muscles and shoulders.

So while this isn’t exactly one of the most common words in the Swedish language, it’s very handy to know in order to avoid hearing it mumbled passive-aggressively by shoppers queuing behind you. 

Examples

Vänd streckkoden mot dig och bygg inte varuberg

Turn the barcode towards yourself and don’t pile up your items

Varuberg kan skada personal

Mountains of piled-up goods can injure staff

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.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: jordgubbe

If there's one thing Swedes can't get enough of in summer, it's these.

Swedish word of the day: jordgubbe

Jordgubbe is made up of two words: jord and gubbe.

Jord means earth or soil, and it’s also used in Swedish for Planet Earth.

It’s easy to assume that jordgubbe means “earth man”, gubbe on its own being a common word for referring to a male person (usually gubbe refers to someone either very young or very old, and it can be either affectionate or derogatory, depending on the context).

But this is wrong.

  • 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

Gubbe is also a Swedish dialect word used to refer to a small lump, so jordgubbe literally means “a small lump that grows in the earth” – more accurate, but less romantic than picturing strawberries as tiny little men who live in our garden and are to be picked and eaten with whipped cream… now that we think about it, “small lump” is probably better.

Strawberries were introduced to Sweden in the second half of the 18th century and were originally called ananassmultron due to their Latin name (Fragaria x ananassa).

The word jordgubbe has existed in the Swedish language since at least 1638, but was then the main name for musk strawberries, later known as parksmultron in Swedish.

Jordgubbar are one of the staple foods on Midsummer’s Eve and Swedes are convinced that they grow the best strawberries in the world.

Example sentences:

Polisen misstänker att gängkriminella har infiltrerat jordgubbsindustrin

Police suspect that gang criminals have infiltrated the strawberry industry

Goda jordgubbar! Är de svenska eller belgiska?

Yummy strawberries! Are they Swedish or Belgian?

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.

SHOW COMMENTS