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SWEDISH WORD OF THE DAY

​​Swedish word of the day: spex

Super silly student spectacles or sometimes just a person acting silly.

Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond
Photo: Annie Spratt/Unsplash/Nicolas Raymond

Svenska akademiens ordlista, the word-list of the Swedish Academy, lists spex as ‘amateur performances, often by students, with various types of parodies; fun performance or joke.’

The word spex is derived from spektakel which is the same as the English ‘spectacle’, as in a ‘a public show or display, especially on a large scale.’ Yet there is a difference. Sometimes also known as studentspex, a spex is usually, though not always, tied to student-life. 

The word itself, according to Svenska akademiens ordbok (‘The Dictionary of the Swedish Academy’), originated as a student slang word for the spectacles put up by Swedish students at certain universities. These student shows are now also increasingly a part of Finnish student tradition, where they are called speksi

Spex are widespread in the student cities of Uppsala, Gothenburg, Lund, Umeå, Linköping, Örebro, Stockholm, and now increasingly at Finnish universities. Participants are usually students, but sometimes young academics as well.

The tradition originated sometime around 1850 in Uppsala, which is the home of one of Sweden’s most famous universities, known among other things for rejecting Michel Foucault’s doctoral thesis. 

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The original spex were parodies of all the classical dramas in Latin and Classical Greek that the students had to watch at Uppsala university. Even today the spex is often an irreverent play on an actual play, with anachronistic references to contemporary personalities, including lots of wordplay. 

In a spex the audience is encouraged to call actors back in after especially appreciated lines or scenes, to do a reprise. And, unlike in regular plays, actors often look directly at the audience rather than at the other actors. 

The music used is often well known tunes with new humorous lyrics, again often with lots of wordplay, and the accompaniment can vary from a lonely piano to a full band or orchestra, to sometimes just being acappella. 

Another characteristic of the spex is that it often has reverse gender casting, women playing men and men playing women.

If you feel like going to a spex, the best time to enjoy one by your local student body is in the springtime. Follow your local student body on social media for the latest updates. 

Another use of the word spex is to describe when a person is acting a bit silly to elicit laughter. You can then say that someone is trying to spexa till det, (‘to ‘spex’ it up’).

Example sentences:

Kolla, kolla! Nu försöker Bettan spexa till det igen!

Look, look! Bettan is trying to spex it up again!

Ska du gå på spexet ikväll?

Are you going to the spex tonight?

Villa, Volvo, Vovve: The Local’s Word Guide to Swedish Life, written by The Local’s journalists, is now available to order. Head to lysforlag.com/vvv to read more about it. It is also possible to buy your copy from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Bokus or Adlibris.

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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.

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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.

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