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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

Swedish word of the day: påskmust

Here's a piece of Easter vocabulary you simply must learn.

Swedish word of the day: påskmust
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Påskmust roughly means “Easter soda”, but most Swenglish speakers use the original word even when speaking Swedish.

We take a look at the history of the word påsk (Easter) in this word of the day, but what about the must?

It comes from the Latin term vinum mustum (literally “young wine”), but before you get too excited, the must filling supermarket shelves at the moment is non-alcoholic (otherwise of course, it wouldn’t be allowed in Swedish supermarkets at all). 

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

The technique, however, is mostly unchanged: must is unfiltered juice from berries or fruit, which doesn’t ferment. The term mustus in Latin, meaning “fresh”, “young” or “new” is actually linked to the Greek word μύδος (“moisture”).

A place where this kind of juice is made is called a musteri, and there are lots of types of must as well as the seasonally themed varieties: äppelmust (apple juice), körsbärsmust (cherry juice), and lingonmust (lingonberry juice) for example).

Påskmust and its wintery counterpart julmust (Christmas soda) are made by adding the fruity syrup (the recipes are a closely guarded secret) to carbonated water, and they are sold in huge quantities around both holidays. The earliest adverts for påskmust date back to 1947, but it is becoming ever more popular, with sales rapidly increasing over recent years.

The malty flavour is said to pair especially well with the traditional festive food of herring, meats, and more herring.

If you want to start a controversial discussion at fika or around a påskbord (like a julbord or smörgåsbord, but at Easter), pose the question of whether julmust and påskmust are one and the same. While the labels show different seasonal scenes, the tastes are suspiciously similar.

It seems that even manufacturers have admitted the ingredients of both drinks are identical, even if Carlsberg – the producer of the popular Apotekarnes brand – claim that the storage, occasion, and experience of the two drinks lead to differences in the perceived taste.

READ ALSO: Six ways the Swedes celebrate Easter

Examples

Under påskhelgen dricker svenskar mer än 10 miljoner liter påskmust

During the Easter weekend, Swedes drink more than ten million litres of påskmust

Är julmust och påskmust samma sak?

Are julmust and påskmust the same thing?

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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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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