# Scandinavians aren't really happy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488 "2015-09-10T02:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/21 "2015-09-10T14:02:08Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Why Jutland, why not: Legoland is in Billund. He clearly knows nothing about Jutland. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/22 "2015-09-10T14:11:49Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > "We have free health care for everyone. Do they call us the free health care country? > > We hardly ever kill each other. Do they call us the low murder country? > > We belong to more clubs than anyone. Do they call us the civic association country? > > But you fuck _ **on** _e pig…" > > Regards, > Shodan …and we have a thread winner! That literally made me laugh out loud. Thanks, **Shodan**. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/23 "2015-09-10T14:13:20Z")
Yeah, Shodan, I’ll give you TWO Internet cookies for that one. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/24 "2015-09-10T14:13:55Z")
Anybody who thinks Swedes are happy has never seen and Ingmar Bergman film. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/25 "2015-09-10T14:14:55Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > From link: > > Y’all should. Copenhagen is awesome. One of my favorite cities. > > Seems a bit unfair to criticize Denmark for not being in the top ten of European tourist attractions, though. High stakes, much? How come no one seems particularly interested in visiting Estonia? Lithuania? Belgium? Romania? Bulgaria? Georgia? Lithuania? Slovakia? Switzerland (much)? > > Maybe because not every corner of Europe is Paris, London or Berlin? Sorry about that, I guess. (And speaking of Berlin, who ever goes on holiday in Germany, outside of Berlin? Unless you have an unhealthy obsession with beer and Lederhosen, I suppose.) I have plans on visiting Denmark someday - I played EVE Online for a number of years in a European based corp made up of Scandanavians and British with a liberal salting of others tossed in for fun. I also plan on visiting Norway and Sweden as well. And I deliberately flew into Frankfurt, met up with a Romanian friend [who I have plans on visiting in Bucharest one day] and we bombed around between Ramstein and Amsterdam [and yes, I drove the Kuga around old town Amsterdam’s Canal District looking for our hotel…] because I wanted to feed Jin Ente some Popeye’s Fried Chicken, and the only place to get it in Europe is on an American military base…[and if that isn’t a silly reason to fly to Germany for 4 days, I don’t know what is.:smack:] ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/26 "2015-09-10T14:25:18Z")
On Finland: > [@](#): > > Their leading filmmaker, Aki Kaurismaki, makes features so “unremittingly morose they made [Ingmar] Bergman look like Mr. Bean,” reports Booth. What the writer is failing to understand is that Kaurismaki’s films are comedies. Hang on, wait. Maybe that actually makes it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/27 "2015-09-10T14:45:40Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Anybody who thinks Swedes are happy has never seen and Ingmar Bergman film. Because…The Seventh Seal is a documentary about Swedish society? All Swedes are somehow cloned Ingmar Bergmans? You’ll need to help us out here, what exactly is the point you are so ineptly trying to make? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/28 "2015-09-10T14:49:03Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Seems a bit unfair to criticize Denmark for not being in the top ten of European tourist attractions, though. High stakes, much? How come no one seems particularly interested in visiting Estonia? Lithuania? Belgium? Romania? Bulgaria? Georgia? Lithuania? Slovakia? Switzerland (much)? “You said Lithuania twice.” “I like Lithuania.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/29 "2015-09-10T14:50:48Z")
You know what makes me want to kill myself? Adam Sandler films. Bergman is awesome. Nothing depressing about him. > [@Asimovian](#): > > “You said Lithuania twice.” Let’s just pretend that I totally did that on purpose. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/30 "2015-09-10T14:53:25Z")
> **[Sweden Simulator 2015](http://swedensimulator.com/)** > > Feel what it's like to be a Swede in this virtual reality Sweden simulator. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/31 "2015-09-10T15:00:36Z")
Guys, I just had an epiphany of sorts. It occurred to me what bothers me about Scandinavians claiming to be happy on happiness surveys. A Scandinavian who is beaming and smiling, all thumbs up, and cheerfully telling you how happy s/he is, isn’t actually happy. Because that’s not how a Scandinavian expresses genuine happiness. A Scandinavian who is gloomy, morose, alcoholic, suicidal and fucking a pig is a \*real \*happy Scandinavian. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/32 "2015-09-10T15:03:52Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > [http://swedensimulator.com/](http://swedensimulator.com/) It doesn’t seem to work on Safari. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/33 "2015-09-10T19:05:43Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > A Scandinavian who is gloomy, morose, alcoholic, suicidal and fucking a pig is a \*real \*happy Scandinavian. I agree, apart from nasty doings with the pig. On scandinavian happiness, also speaking as a Norwegian: we have a lot of old, worn carpets full of dust underneath. We do not have free healthcare, by the way. And our "safety net is a joke. It’s primarily designed to make people dependent on it, by making it’s users expend all their “assets”, even their family, before giving “assistance”. One of Norways biggest problems is big, \*\*inefficient \*\*bureaucracy. Emphasis on inefficient, as I would have no problem with a big, efficient bureaucracy. But I was still pretty happy living there. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/34 "2015-09-10T21:03:52Z")
> [@Plumpudding](#): > > I agree, apart from nasty doings with the pig. > > On scandinavian happiness, also speaking as a Norwegian: we have a lot of old, worn carpets full of dust underneath. We do not have free healthcare, by the way. And our "safety net is a joke. It’s primarily designed to make people dependent on it, by making it’s users expend all their “assets”, even their family, before giving “assistance”. One of Norways biggest problems is big, \*\*inefficient \*\*bureaucracy. Emphasis on inefficient, as I would have no problem with a big, efficient bureaucracy. > > But I was still pretty happy living there. From what I understand very few western countries have ‘free’ healthcare, almost all require some form of insurance or small payments (here in Sweden it costs about 200 SEK to see a doctor and there’s a cap of about 2000 SEK that you can pay a year). The UK is one of the few where it really is ‘free’ (beyond tax) and you just turn up and see a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/35 "2015-09-10T21:04:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It doesn’t seem to work on Safari. The problem there is that Safari is not a good browser, no matter what Apple tells us. And I use OSX at home and work. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/36 "2015-09-10T22:16:25Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Legoland is in Billund. He clearly knows nothing about Jutland. I’m an American who has been to Legoland in Billund. Great place. So the premise that no one is interested is false. Ever been to a Lego convention? Billund is like Mecca to Lego aficionados. He’s just clearly not hanging out with the people with the appropriate hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/37 "2015-09-10T22:50:14Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > A Scandinavian who is beaming and smiling, all thumbs up, and cheerfully telling you how happy s/he is, isn’t actually happy. Because that’s not how a Scandinavian expresses genuine happiness. I am of Scandinavian-American descent, & seem to keep wandering into Scandinavians somehow (some uni acquaintances, a webcomic artist I follow, etc.); and I rate this maybe a _third_ true. True for some more than others. Possibly truer for Finns and Scots than for Scandinavians. Possibly considerably less true for the Icelandics. I haven’t met enough Estonians to have a stereotypical view of them yet. 😛 > [@](#): > > A Scandinavian who is gloomy, morose, alcoholic, suicidal and fucking a pig is a \*real \*happy Scandinavian. I still don’t understand how you get a human penis in a sow’s vagina. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/38 "2015-09-10T22:57:27Z")
At least a few of them find it Hven. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/39 "2015-09-10T23:04:15Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > On Finland: > > What the writer is failing to understand is that Kaurismaki’s films are comedies. > > Hang on, wait. Maybe that actually makes it worse. Danish artist Humon on Nordic “comedy”: > **[Funny Movie - Scandinavia and the World](https://satwcomic.com/funny-movie)** > > Webcomic: If someone ever asks you if you would like to see a Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish or Russian comedy then...well, > **[Game for Grown Ups - Scandinavia and the World](https://satwcomic.com/game-for-grown-ups)** > > Webcomic: Four of the Nordic boys in the roles of these guys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH3xiUUM2GQ The video is a trailer for a non-ex ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488/40 "2015-09-10T23:21:49Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > On Finland: > > What the writer is failing to understand is that Kaurismaki’s films are comedies. > > Hang on, wait. Maybe that actually makes it worse. [Nitpick] Finland is NOT part of Scandahoovia. Cite: Wiki or the side if any SAS airplane [/Nitpick] I have visited Sweden a number of times and I have many Swedes and a few Danes among my friends. The Swedes I know bitch like hell about their government Heath care. Inefficient and hard to get an appointment mainly. Swedes do drink. However I did read an article that compared alcohol consumption now vs historically. Swedes drink a LOT less now. Alcohol is taxed out the ass in Sweden. Going to Sweden and want to make a friend for life? Pack a bottle of booze. The Swedes I have met are friendly and outgoing and seem to enjoy life. Are they happier than Americans? I don’t know. I know a lot of happy people here too. I do know I have been warned that there are parts of Gothenburg I should not walk through at night, and when I asked why when bicycle racing is so big in Europe all the commuter bikes I saw parked at the Central Station were old beat up POS, I was told if you parked a nice bike even with the best locks it would get stolen. So it is not crime free. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandinavians-arent-really-happy/730488.md?page=3)