Hej – and welcome to your weekly ScandiKitchen lesson.
As everything is still grey and cold, this week we talk about colours – and wish our Irish friends a happy St Patrick’s Day today 17th March (with lots of green all around).
Every week, we give a little lesson on how to be a bit more Scandinavian in your everyday life. If you’d like the full-length version of these lessons direct into your inbox every Friday morning, simply click here to sign up.
Red
If a Dane says he doesn’t have a red prawn, it means he is skint (ikke en rød reje). If you have red dogs, it means German measles (røde hunde). In Sweden, doing things in five red (på fem röda) means to do something quickly.
Yellow
You are yellow and green with envy (gul och grön) but in Danish, indignant can also be yellow and green. Bruises are not black, but blue – and multiple bruises are yellow and blue (gul og blå) in Scandinavia.
Blue
If a Swede tells you that now you have shit in the blue cupboard, they mean to tell you that you’ve make a serious mistake (skita i det blå skåpet). In Norway, if you’re blue-eyed, you’re naive (Å være blåøyd).
Green
Promising gold and green forests, means over-promising (guld og grønne skove). Being on a green branch (grön kvist) is a good economy. If a Dane poos green pigs (skide grønne grise) it means being scared.
White
A Dane may tell you it costs the white bits of the eyes, meaning it’s expensive (koster det hvide ud af øjnene). If they want you to forget about something, you shoot a white arrow after it (skyde hvid pil efter).
Black
In Finnish, the pot blames the kettle, yet both have a black side (Pata kattilaa soimaa, musta kylki kummallakin). Both are responsible for something, but one is claiming innocence.