Today the Swedish newspapers GÖTEBORGS-POSTEN, EXPRESSEN, Resumé and the electronic newspaper TheLocal reported that a Stockholm man living in the northern Swedish town of Östersund was offended by a local Nordic Airline advertisement that referred to Stockholm as being “Fjollträsk” which means something like “Mire of Queens”.

The Stockholm man took his complaint to the Red Cross which handles complaints of discrimination in that area of the country and forwarded the complaint to Swedish Regulators.

It is not hard to see how people associate Stockholm with “Fjollträsk” (A mire of Queens). Television advertisements are constantly projecting this humorous effeminate image of men from Stockholm. PressbyrÃ¥n, which is a chain of kiosks that sell newspapers, hot dogs, candy, cigarettes, soda etc., has a long running commercial that is repeated over and over, showing a middle aged man with a very styled hairdo, fashionable clothes and glasses, a silk scarf around his neck and a little purse with a strap around his one wrist, coming into the kiosk and discovering the “one cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun” promotion, getting all excited in a feminine kind of way, exclaiming “oh my GOD, that’s SO retro” in a distinct Stockholm accent. And there is also the Synsam optician advertisement, Synsam has a sales drive where you buy two pairs of glasses and pay for one. We see a man in an elevator, surrounded by other people that all are giggling and looking at him. He discovers that he is wearing women’s glasses, and reaches for his briefcase, opens it, rummages through women’s high heel shoes and feather boas and gets out a pair of men’s glasses that he puts on instead. The speaker voice has a distinct Stockholm accent.

Not very masculine…

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In music last year, Finland was proud that Lordi, won the Eurovision Song Contest. Lordi has great heavy Metal Music and a winning image. Here is a great little snippet about Finland’s Lordi: Source

LORDI are:Lordi – vocals, programming Amen – guitars, backing vocals Kalma – bass, backing vocals Kita – drums, backing vocals Enary – keyboards, backing vocals

What would happen if our favorite horror film characters Freddie Kruger, Michael Myers (Halloween) and Jason (Friday 13th) took a break from their hectic killing spree’s, put down their weapons of murder, had a few beers and picked up musical instruments?

Answer = LORDI

Lordi are the new crazies on the block, looking as if they have escaped from the cast of an Evil Dead movie and sounding like a cross between KISS and Rob Zombie – this is the most fun you can have without incurring a lengthy sentence in prison. Lordi hail from Finland, Lapland Finland in fact, The home of Father Christmas who is rumored to have moved since Lordi set up shop!

Lordi’s performance, complete with Finnish commentators – “Hyvää Suomi”, “Well done, Finland”!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdbDNL5oqCs

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Sweden on the other hand via Stockholm is sending the Gender Bending Glam Rock Band “The Ark” to the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend in Helsinki, Finland.

Sweden is all pumped up for “The Ark” to win the Eurovision contest this year. They are listed by bookmakers across Europe as one of the favorites.

We living in Sweden have been unable to escape “The Ark”. The Ark has been running in a short commercial featuring their popular song “The Worrying Kind” for the Swedish Clothing store MQ, “Man & Quinny” which translated by many of us means Man & Queen clothes store.

The commercial is shown below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_023kdP1gc

So why are people from Stockholm offended by the stereotype?

Well… Probably because there are many people in Stockholm who do not fit the mold and image that Stockholm has delicately sculpted for itself.

Hey, we might not particularly like the candy music of “The Ark” but be darn sure we all hope the ARK WINS The EUROVISION SONG CONTEST this year! Heja Sverige!!!

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There is another show The Monkey Princess and I really enjoy here in Sweden that is out of Stockholm. It is the “Rocky och Drago” with Peter Siepen och Tilde Fröling .

Peter and Tilde travel the world and do different activities and each demonstrate their unique personalities. Peter dresses a little differently then most. His unique style could be described as a costume. Outside of Stockholm he raises quite a few eyebrows, he probably raises eyebrows with his clothing style in Stockholm also. Peter and Tilde are great, and we watch every episode of their show and look forward to the upcoming fourth season.

Peter’s style I would describe as an exaggerated caricature of the “Fjollträsk” ‘Mire of Queens’ Stockholm stereotype.

In this video clip, Rocky and Drago are in Texas and visits TXRD for some rollerderby action – notice how compared to the “roller girls” Peter is VERY toned down in his choice of clothing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6AokXkm8QE

The Red Cross says “The word Fjollträsk is used in a very insulting way here in Jämtland. There’s always a negative focus on Stockholm in Norrland and here is a big company using this negative term,” the Red Cross’s Anna Ebenmark told one of the Swedish Newspapers. ‘Fjolla’ (‘queen’) also sounds negative, but this case isn’t so much about homophobia as it is about negative attitudes towards Stockholm,” she said. Sara Gustafsson, director of marketing for Fly Nordic, told news agency TT that the advert was not intended to harm anyone. I come from northern Sweden myself, and for me ‘Fjollträsk’ is a light-hearted term for Stockholm. We wanted people to laugh at the advert,” she said.

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EXPRESSEN, A Stockholm newspaper distributed as an evening paper all over Sweden had a Poll Question. Click For EXPRESSEN “Fjollträsk” Reader PollBelow are the first few responses listed at the time we pulled them and translated them into English:

Should Stockholm be allowed to be referred to as “Fjollträsk”?

The people that call themselves “Stockholmers” are mostly just “farmers” that have been living in the city for a few months and “talk” with a Stockholm accent, in other words sissies.

Why not. The people in Fjollträsk usually claim that other people aren’t as smart as they are. So then it would be absolutely OK to call the 08 area code region Fjollträsk.

Fjollträsk, not that one too! Says a trucker from Stockholm. When I meet colleagues they say that people in the south calls us 99’s. 99’s? Yes, because we aren’t exactly 100 %. Not sure Fjollträsk might be good anyways!

Haha, Fjollträsk IS a suitable name for that city on the backside of Sweden! Haha!

Of course you can call Stockholm “Fjollträsk”. What are they going to do about it? Hit us with their purses, or what…?