How do the British perceive Scandinavians?

[HappySmurfs]

such as stereotypes etc.

Cool, attractive, intelligent, Granola, green.

I admire the Scandinavian countries on the whole but am absolutely repulsed by the Norwegian position on whaling and the way the Danish (and Dutch) rear pigs.

Norwegians - the friendliest Scandis but with the least good food
Swedes - the most standoffish and aloof
Danes - cool
Finns - hate being pigeonholed with other Scandinavians. My hairdresser is Finnish and I completely adore him so to me Finns wins

I've been to all of the Scandinavian counties several times, have friends and my first boyfriend was Swedish (probably still is, lol). I love Scandinavia, clean, liberal, fun. The countryside is fabulous in the summer but grim in the winter... and I'm from NE England!

My friends are all very tall and blonde but I realise this isn't everyone. The Finns are probably to most dour in my experience.

i worked with Norwegians for about 10 years. awesome people. very dry, sarcastic humour. very, very funny. friendly, open and loyal.

and Norwegian swears are the best.

they can shove their salty liquorice up their arses though.

The ones we’ve met have been- friendly, stylish, eco conscious, excellent taste in food, coffee and home

In fact if I wanted to pass myself off as something that wasn’t English I’d go for something Scandinavian

I think we have a bit of a love affair with it and spend our holidays there and buy predominantly from businesses there

Have a Google for an Icelandic comic, there won't be hundreds! I saw one on Netflix last month and he did a bit on the different cultures, very funny!

A bit like cats. Beautiful and slightly aloof.

Have some good words like utepils (sp?) that we could well steal.
Obsessed by skiing and a bit surprised that everywhere else isn't.
Into metal, and othershit music.
Well-travelled.
Like following rules. Don't like smiling at strangers. Unless drunk.
Like trees, a lot.

Ooh, cabins! Live cabins. And believe that wool has magic properties.

Liberal, smart and so very lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

There’s a documentary on Netflix where a British man travels to the world’s toughest prisons and the one in Norway shows how liberal and kind the people are. So very different to the rest in terms of the humanity shown to prisoners.

There’s a similar episode focusing on Greenland but I’m not sure that is Scandinavian?

Shaniac Danes for sure are easily perceived as rude - can't speak for other Scandis. But I think most people are, compared to the English. There's a lot of "I do wonder if I might possibly have one of your lovely loaves of bread please if it's not too much trouble cheers thanks ever so much" in England, whereas in Denmark you'll pretty much say "I'm having a loaf of bread". Which seems rude, but is really just a cultural difference in interaction. In my view.

I think British people have less pre-conceived notions about Norway, I think if you introduced yourself as being from Scandinavia people would assume Swedish (blonde, blue eyed, tall, abba, Ikea, meatballs etc.) so I'd stick to saying you were Norwegian personally.

DH is Danish but is far more of the viking persuasion than a tall blond, much to my mother's disappointment! Shamefully, a lot of British people seem to struggle to distinguish between Denmark and the Netherlands. I think the fact that Dutch starts with a letter D throws them off! but there seems to be very little knowledge beyond that.

A section see Scandinavia as some sort of utopia based on very little evidence and the epitome of cool. Like to randomly insert the letters ø or å randomly into products/restaurants as this somehow elevates their status. This drives my husband insane. Also like to quote studies showing that Denmark/Norway/Sweden are happiest places in the world. His response is it is because they have such low expectations

Finns - hate being pigeonholed with other Scandinavians

Well, seems fair as Finland isn't part of Scandinavia, it is Nordic but not Scandinavian

The first thing that springs to mind is amazing taste in knitwear.

I have no idea why, though.

Erh @Twinkie01 i really cannot answer that, we clearly doesn't have shared tastes 😂.

I checked out if our old school had any pics from then, but no luck. This is the youngest press photo I can find (I remember him with a lot more hair) so judge for yourself. But he was nice and friendly.

I immediately think
Stylish
Blonde
Tall
Slim
Cool
Aloof
Eco warrior
Minimalist
Well-educated
Deep thinkers

WinterdiscontentGlorioussummer he's really not my type usually, honestly!!

Aw no I think I prefer him as an old man.

Thank you for going to so much trouble x

Cool

And I love the liquorice

Holidayed in Stockholm once and found them efficient but not warm. Not much smiling during the usual interactions of buying lunch, ferry tickets and generally going about as a tourist. It was July so their own holiday period.
Child friendly though.

Speak good English
quite friendly
tall
not all blond

I met some nice Danish in Turkey....they were all buying towels etc as said it was so expensive back home and they loved Primark when visiting the uk !

Good looking men

@wewantthefinestwines. That makes sense tbh. Ive never really taken much notice until dp talks about it but he can never articulate why he thinks that.

Tall
Good-looking
Bilingual/multilingual
Great schools
Cross-country skiing
Natural looking decor - neutral walls, wooden furniture, sheepskin rugs etc.
Egalitarian, not flashy
Enjoying alcohol, despite it being very expensive