I'm from Denmark, ask me anything you might be curious about

[ScandinavianSummer]

Hello everyone! I'm a (very) long time lurker of Mumsnet, particularly the AMA-section - I thought I'd start a thread of my own in case anyone is curious about my country, Denmark, or anything Danish! I'm happy to answer any question!

Those are some really good question, thank you.

Yes, even though Denmark is a very small country, different regions do speak in their own dialect. A Copenhagener sounds very different to someone from the south of Jutland, near the German border. In fact, it can be quite difficult to understand the south Jutlanders as a Copenhagener! You can also hear from people's dialect if their are from other regions on mainland Denmark, or some of the other islands (we have lots of them!).

Yes, we can clearly hear when someone is from Norway or Sweden. Danes can read and understand Swedish, and Swedes can read Danish, but have a hard time understanding it when spoken. Norwegian sounds more like Swedish when spoken, but in writing, it's super similar to Danish. But we can hear a difference between Swedish and Norwegian even though they sound similar.

As for friendly rivalry, we definitely have a love / hate relationship with Sweden, haha. Denmark and Sweden are apparently the two countries in the world that have been at war with each other the most! Swedes tend to make fun of our ugly-sounding language whereas we tend to make fun of them for existing...

That's very true, Danes are not big on colours and looking bright and flashy. In the summer you will see people wear brighter colours to some degree, but we just really enjoy a neutral colour palette. I personally prefer colours which does attract attention - but always positive attention! I think a lot of Danes don't like standing out and draw attention to themselves, so they wear neutral colours and clothes. If you look at Scandi fashion trends, you will notice that our style, especially for women, can be quite androgynous. Which is another form of neutral, I'd say...

Also, for practical reasons, I think neutral colours work well for our lifestyle and our climate. Most of the year, it's cold, wet and muddy so not exactly appropriate for pastels and light colours.

I have to go now, but I will answer the questions I haven't answered yet tomorrow. Goodnight everyone, and thanks for all of your great questions, and your curiosity around Denmark and Danes.

Re the Storebaelt bridge, yes Dh goes to Copenhagen once a month for work, his brother lives in Greve. Dh has a Bro Biz pass, I also thought they must have paid it off by now.

@ABwithAnItch ha- we are now back in the uk- but I have a brilliant wardrobe from living in Copenhagen - and yes virtually all black with a bit of grey - - great coats, (of all weights and seasons) great boots etc

I do hope people go @ScandinavianSummer I'm always mentioning it on here as it's I think a very special place. I really love Sweden too -we have been lots of times. Stockholm , Uppsala and Malmo and Lund. -could happily live again in either .

I think you'd struggle as a vegan but vegetarian is probably ok. As a coeliac it's a nightmare

This has been a very interesting AMA. Also
living in Denmark with Danish citizenship though didn’t grow up here and live far from Copenhagen, having also lived in the UK. It’s been interesting to see the different perspectives though we’re both living here.

Yes to the ‘breakfast liquor’, though that’s mostly kept for celebrations not daily/weekly breakfast in my experience.

I would say Dane’s are happy because expectations are low - participation is significantly more important than quality of what comes out of it, so it’s easier to be satisfied. Education in particular is low pressure from my experience up until ‘gymnasium’/sixth form age, with main focus in eg parents days being on hi kids are getting on socially.

And a big yes to Danes thinking that their way is the only way (often with limited imagination of things being able to be done differently). A standard reply to dismiss most suggestions is: we’ve always done it that way.

And yes to the dark/neutral clothes. I went to the doctor and was positively complimented on my bright pink bra by the (non-Danish) doctor as she was very happy to see some colour 😅.

Noooo!! I'm coeliac and Denmark was on my list of places to visit 😪

Interesting about Sweden.

DH and I joke that the real villains of WW2 were the Swedes, as that is pretty much how my DM tells it.

The Danish numbers! 😫

A Danish friend was explaining it to me, and I thought that he was pulling my leg.

I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask this question to as I'm very indifferent to the entire Danish royal family. With that said, Margrethe was loved, and I reckon she still had more in her to give as a queen. But I'm sure Frederik will do just fine, too - I don't really mind him, and he's not too problematic as far as I'm aware.

Is Mary as popular as she's reported to be?

I appreciate you're not a royalist, but can you give any insight into how a monarchy is loved/accepted in a country such as Denmark which is so much more egalitarian than the UK? I always find that odd.

The Danish numbers! 😫

Ooh I'm intrigued now! I haven't got as far as numbers on my Danish Duolingo journey yet They can't be more ridiculous than French numbers, surely? Few things are.

They can't be more ridiculous than French numbers, surely? Few things are.

They are!!

I've just looked. Wtaf Sorry OP, but I have revised my opinion of Danish people. Based on your counting system alone, you must all be completely bonkers. I speak quite a few languages and I have never seen anything as daft as that!

Land of introverts like Norway/Sweden?

How do the Danes view small talk? Brits seem to be able to make it the most terrifying unpleasant thing to happen to you during your day, yet in America there seems to be a gift to make small talk light up someone's day.

They don't do small talk. Being direct in a way a British person would find rude it totally normal.

Thank you for taking the time to answer.

That is interesting that people don’t see a difference between cows, pigs etc being stunned and killed quickly and this ritual.

Maybe I am naive to believe that animals in a slaughterhouse aren’t hacked to death and don’t take half an hour to die in agony.

It is also interesting that although the Faroe Islands are Danish and they have so many different elements such as language and traditions.

Thank you for your answer.

Danes don't really have an issue with animals dying and being eaten though.

This is the culture that thought public dissection of a dead lion at the zoo was great family entertainment (my DM would definitely have taken me to this given the chance)

Plus there are a lot of issues with how Denmark has treated the minority cultures on it's distant islands in the past which would make a central government intervention very difficult.

Thank you for this thread, really interesting.

We are planning to go interrailing in 2026 to Scandinavia - is there a good train service and which places should we stop at for a couple of days.
(Btw I am an Alvar Aalto fan).

Is there a Danish or scandi mumsnet equivalent? Any reason you use MN, and not say an American, Australian or other English speaking equivalent?

Sorry to hijack OP's thread but I've done some work in this area. If you want to learn more, read about Denmark's relationship with Greenland – it's a similar situation there re animal welfare. I'm a vegetarian largely for animal welfare reasons but the more you learn about indigenous cultures, you realise animal rights is largely a white, western concept.

Seal hunting is an Inuit tradition (Greenland is ethnically Inuit, but is a colony of Denmark) but when an EU-wide ban on seal products came in, Inuit source of income was really affected as they could no longer sell products to EU countries even though there was an exception for "traditional hunting methods". Indigenous people from the Scandinavian region do understandably feel intervention in their cultural practices is another facet of colonisation.

It's a really interesting and important topic as I feel we look at colonialism through a very British lens in terms of India, African countries, the Commonwealth etc – but it happens worldwide.

Can you explain what is the story with Christiania in Copenhagen? I expected it to be a bit peace and love but found it quite threatening with masked guards etc everywhere when I was there! Do people live there or is it just a marketplace for drug gangs?

That's really interesting. As a Spanish speaker I can understand written Portuguese, but haven't got a hope when it is spoken!