Foppatofflor

You (and the rest of the world) might know them as crocs, or “those ugly ass slippers”.

In Sweden, however, they are named after the genius that saw how popular they were in the US and decided to import them to his home country, where they were quickly named “Forsberg slippers” in his honor. Who is this brilliant mind, you might ask? Peter “Foppa” Forsberg, the hockey player, who wore the slippers while recuperating from an injury. I wonder what will last longer – his legacy as an athlete or the slippers?

Flashback

Flashback is an online forum where (almost) nothing is off-topic or illegal. The topics open for discussion range on everything from celebrity gossip to drug advice and porn. However, the site might be best known for its users’ detective skills, having solved a lot of mysteries and crimes through collective reasoning.

When a young woman murdered two young kids and their mother, for example, they were able to bring forth evidence that had previously not been discovered by the police. Interested citizens from all over the country, all with different areas of expertise, contributed to the discussion and helped form a comprehensive picture of what had happened (see “Arbogamorden”). Because of Swedish laws that forbid the media from naming those accused of crimes (except for in extreme cases), Flashback has also become popular as the place to go if you want to find out what celebrity has been accused of what crime.

Back at work - minister of culture Adelsohn-Liljeroth

Filip och Fredrik (Filip and Fredrik)

Where to start? They have become a stable of Swedish pop culture, despite running a recent campaign against said entity. Starting out as journalists, they made a couple of unorthodox TV-shows and now they are more or less the golden boys of the Swedish entertainment industry. Their weekly podcast tops the charts and they have more or less been given carte blanche to create new ideas. Very infatuated with everything (eh, more or less) American, they have also done a couple of shows set in the US, interviewing, amongst others, Fabio and that guy in 90210 with the receding hairline.

It is hard to recommend just one of their videos, since they have done a lot of good television, but I think this clip from “Hundra Höjdare” is a good introduction. The premise of the show is that they present the top 100 moments in Swedish history. Visit their own website for more info:

Back at work

Interview with a farmer that wants a wife. And his cows.

Fika

Fika is perhaps my favorite activity and definitely the one I miss the most in the American workplace. It is both a noun and a verb that refers to the act of sitting down with a cup of coffee or tea and something to eat - fruit, cake, cookies, what have you. This process is repeated several times during the day so the next fika break (“fikarast”) is never far away. When people get bored at work, they take a fika break. When you want to hang out with a friend and it is too early to drink, you go out for a fika. When you visit your grandmother, the first thing she is going to do is offer you fika. The public’s love affair with it in combination with strong unions has led to a law stating that all employees must get five minutes off for every hour that they work. Thus, there is enough time for at least two or three fika breaks during the workday.

Fadime

Unni Wikan, author of "In Honor of Fadime"

The murder of Fadime Sahindal introduced the Swedish public to the concept of “honor killings”. A Kurdish immigrant who moved to Sweden with her family at the age of seven, she wanted to pick her own husband and refused the man selected for her. She spoke to the parliament about her situation and politicians supported her cause.  Her family threatened to have her killed if she ever returned to her hometown of Uppsala, so for several years she stayed away. However, she decided to come back and say goodbye to her mother and sisters before leaving for Kenya, and her father shot her in the head right in front of them. This sparked a debate about immigration as well as the role of the feminist movement. She is still used as an example of what (in a worst-case scenario) an honor
-based belief system can lead to.  The book "In Honor of Fadime" explains the story in detail.