Cultural Differences – Amerikanske tilstande

Use Mascara!

Posted on 2021-07-262021-07-26 by greg nagan

It was a refreshing three weeks of vacation. I’m tanned, rested, and ready for whatever the rest of this year wants to throw at us. (If the rest of the year is listening, that was not intended as a challenge.) We spent two weeks down in the Algarve, sunning ourselves in the Portuguese sun and…

On the Burning of Witches

Posted on 2021-06-232021-06-23 by greg nagan

Today is Sankt Hans Aften in Denmark: St. John’s Eve. The holiday is a celebration of John the Baptist’s birth, which the Gospel dates six months prior to Jesus’s: thus St. John’s Day is six months before Christmas. (More or less: changing calendars over the years have resulted in the slight offset.) Skt. Hans Aften…

World Champions

Posted on 2021-02-012021-02-01 by greg nagan

I had some other stuff queued up to write about today, but all of that has to be set aside. As everyone in Denmark and very few people in America know, the Danish national handball team defeated Sweden 26-24 last night in Cairo to win the world championship. (The US team qualified for the tournament…

Dillermania

Posted on 2021-01-062021-01-06 by greg nagan

Stephen, Buddy! Thanks for making time for me. I know you’re crazy busy and I don’t want to waste your time, so I’ll get right to it. I’ve got the next big thing in kiddie shows. I’m serious. This isn’t a pitch, Stevie. It’s a gift. No, you know what it is? It’s a fucking…

American Conditions

Posted on 2021-01-032021-01-03 by greg nagan

I don’t know how I overlooked this early December opinion piece in Berlingske: it’s hard to think of a headline more appropriate for this blog: Stop the Americanization of Danish Culture, Jacob Mchangama, Berlingske.dk, 7 December I should remind non-Danish readers that “Amerikanske tilstande” translates literally as “American conditions.” The phrase has a long pedigree…

IKEA for the Soul

Posted on 2020-12-272020-12-27 by greg nagan

I’ve spent a lot of time among Danes defending America from basic misconceptions about the country, and a lot of my time among Americans defending Denmark in the same way. I’m not talking about politics, but much more basic stuff. Geography. Climate. Cuisine. Education. The practicalities of daily life. Denmark and the United States are…

Titular Privilege

Posted on 2020-12-232020-12-23 by greg nagan

The American chattering class has been entertaining itself for the past couple of weeks with Jill Biden’s insistence on being addressed as Doctor Jill Biden. The right has been mocking her for it, the left has been attacking that mockery as sexism. Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an…

Lys i Mørket

Posted on 2020-12-092020-12-10 by greg nagan

Do you know how Chicago was founded? It was a bunch of New Yorkers who said, “You know, I love the crowds and pollution and crime and filth and high prices here in New York, but dammit, the winters just aren’t cold enough…” That’s one of two classic Chicago jokes I know. (I’ll get to…

For meget er aldrig nok

Posted on 2020-09-262020-09-26 by greg nagan

Stupidity has metastasized in America. We can start with an article from DR: “Slut med hvide stemmer til ikke-hvide roller: ‘The Simpsons’-karakter får ny stemme,” the upshot of which is that the role of Carl Carlson, voiced for more than three decades by Hank Azaria, will in the premiere of their 32nd season be voiced…

Karen

Posted on 2020-09-202020-09-22 by greg nagan

DR has been thoughtful enough to prepare an “explainer” video on the Karen meme. I’d intended to give it a pretty thorough going-over on Friday, then RBG died and threw the universe off its axis again. (And also, it’s a DR explainer about a stupid American meme. If you don’t strike in the heat of…

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