Swedish for malarkey


Having now figured out the most direct, and least argument - inducing route to IKEA, it has opened our home to many Swedish houseware riches. IKEA reassures us that cheap does not have to mean ugly. Functional does not have to mean boring. Shopping there can make you feel so young, hip, even avant garde. All of the items have their swedish names on the labels. It's like shopping in Europe. Except for all the loud Americans.
The product names get a little wacky though. My hangers, for example, were labeled "bumerang." Am I supposed to believe that this is really the Swedish word for trouser hanger? It's not. Not surprisingly, it's the Swedish term for "boomerang." (And the hanger would not be a very effective one.)
After some shallow internet research, I learned tonight that the Swedes may have gotten a little bored during those long winter nights and became a little creative with the product names. For example, DUKTIG (meaning: good, well-behaved) is a children's tea set. However my closet knobs, "modest" don't really mean anything at all in the Swedish dictionary. Not even modest. (The naming firm, A Hundred Monkeys, offers more insight.)
The IKEA pillow in the background of the photo is cute, but that's not what it's called. ("Bettan blom" is its name, which as far as I can figure, means "bite blossom.")
Post-Script: I can't find the Swedish word for malarkey, but the translation for nonsense is "nonsens." And on the shelves IKEA, I think this might be a funny-looking lamp maybe, or maybe a kiddie chair.
And proving that the blogs never fail in their minute coverage of our world: there's a blog dedicated entirely to IKEA.

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