nordic countries

Finland/Norway too close to call

yeah it's one of those tbs

norway for the music, iceland because its so completely fucking bizarre

anticipating iceland backlash itt

iceland for giving us a price on elves

this hasn't been done here before??

i haven't been to any of these places.

finland brought us tuomas, hmmm.

i've always been fascinated with denmark.

for personal and musical reasons, must go with sweden.

finland all the way

Finland MANG, for having the weirdest language and the best folkloric epic.

All the Norwegians I've met have been extremely nice and down to earth.

I've only been to Iceland, and then only for a couple of days, but it was extremely good so i vote it. I want to go to Sweden next though.

You could've padded this out with Greenland, Svalbard, Åland, Delaware, the Faroes, etc. Then I could've voted for Jan Mayen.

Just back from camping in Sweden, so that.

All of them have pretty ladies but denmark has v pretty dudes too, as does Sweden to a < extent

sweden, hands down -- cool history, cool language (i.e., Swedish sounds like someone from China trying to speak German), cool government, cool stinky fish on Wasa bread, cool 90s pop music. sorry Tuomas and Geir.

plus, you've gotta love a nation of people who would build something as ludicrously top-heavy as the Vasa and expect the damn thing to stay afloat on the open seas:

http://0.tqn.com/d/goscandinavia/1/0/o/4/-/-/vasaship.jpg

on the other hand, this long-forgotten post from Tuomas makes a very strong argument for Finland and the Finns (who aren't as humorless as their reputation, apparently):

There's a funny story related to the the lifting of the Vasa ship: just before it was lifted from the sea bottom a few Finnish technical students were visiting Stockholm and pulled a bit of prank. They hired a diver to visit the ship wreckage, so when the ship was finally lifted from the sea bottom, one of the first things visible on the deck was a statue of the Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. Besides the prank aspect it was a protest for the fact that Swedish officials got Nurmi banned from the 1932 Olympics.

― Tuomas, Monday, June 9, 2008 3:47 AM (2 years ago)

Could someone please explain Finland to me?

lest we forget ... can someone go and change my vote to Finland?!?

I've been to all five and: Sweden. It smells of cinnamon and has the best lakes.

xp The Vasamuseet is p.good, plus I got there half an hour before closing and they let me in for free.

I have a few friends from Sweden, I know and love a bunch of bands from there, and I've actually visited the place (albeit briefly) and had an awesome time. So it's got to be Sweden for me.

what about greenland

and the faroe islands

or *controversial* ESTONIA

Huh, I don't know why it completely skipped my mind that on the way to visit Sweden I was in Denmark for a good couple of days. Also had a good time there, but don't have as much connection with any other aspect of the place.

it's finland for me. kickass folklore, educational system and general social model pretty awesome from all i've read, and it gave us tuomas.

surprised we don't have native posters from the other countries tho sonderangerbot is from sweden right (?)

Øystein and Anatol_Merklich are Norwegian I think

sibelius, kuupuu & lau nau, tove jansson - finland you are awesome

And how could I forget Geir?!

denmark/iceland imo

sweden or iceland.

I've only been to Sweden, so I'm voting for that, because I really liked it (this bit from darragh "kickass folklore, educational system and general social model pretty awesome from all i've read" holds true in Sweden as well). Also, Henrik Larsson.

yeah i had considered that after i hit send but TUOMAS

It doesn't seem like many will vote for us (Norwegians) here. And who can blame them? It's a very comfortable country to live in, but Norwegians in general aren't exciting people (prob because of that). Roll back a few generations and you get Vikings and THOR, though... food for thought!

I voted for Norway, but mainly because of Lindstrom and all sorts of beardy scando-balaeric dudes.

Never been to any of those countries, but have met a lot more Finns (and worked with a few) than any of the others. Plus Finnish language = awesome.

i voted for norway because of THOR and i like the name of norway and i like how norwegian sounds

I voted Sweden but now I wish I had voted for Finland because of i) Tuomas ii) Tom iii) Moomins iv) Fonal v) their love of Donald Duck etc.

voted iceland as it's fascinatingly odd in the way all isolated outcrops of human civilisation tend to be, could've easily voted for norway as it was pretty cool when i visited briefly.

sweden would be last on the list due to the vast quantities of terrible, twee indiepop they've foisted on the world.

I can't decide between Norway and Sweden. Have been shown tremendous hospitality by both Norwegians and Swedes and even if I sink as low as to base my decision on confectionery: Troika bars vs. Djungelvraal liquorice... I mean, both are as gross as the other. The Viking Ship Museum is as great as the Vasa Museum too. Hmm.

xp yeah the world just hated all of that stuff. it was uncomfortable to watch for a while there.

feel bad the rest wont let finland in scandinavia, voted it

Do the Finns want in though?

lets just say, their feelings are a little hurt

newsweek votes finland

i've never been to finland so i might too. denmark is racist and norway too expensive.

Siegbran is another Nordic ILXor, also possibly wears corpsepaint

http://pix.motivatedphotos.com/2008/7/8/633511023806381728-finland---be-afraid-very-afraid.jpg

Roll back a few generations and you get Vikings and THOR, though... food for thought!

― abcfsk, Tuesday, August 17, 2010 6:36 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

roll back a few generations and you get sweden

I find Finland endlessly fascinating and could happily link to 6000 youtubes that I think are A+ rad Finnishness but would not sway a single vote (well, not my way)

but, on the other hand, I spent this weekend in York thinking abt vikings, and last week I met a p. awesome Norwegian, and I have a few other Norwegian friends who are good people

sorry other countries, not much of a look-in for you today

the finnish-soviet war is so fascinating and horrible

Yeah, actually, thinking about Fonal stuff has made Finland a much closer second than previously. But Sweden still wins.

Quirky Swedish indie girlfriend

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

sweden because
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3975/images/3975_MEDIUM.jpg

Sweden is possibly the best country in the world to live. (Or maybe Norway, since they're richer due to the oil, but from what I've gathered they're more conservative than the rest of the Nordic countries, except maybe Iceland.) The "general social model" we have (i.e. the Nordic welfare society) was pretty much pioneered by Sweden, and the others just followed on that, though maybe Finland managed to build its educational system better? Also, Sweden has been more open-minded about immigration than the other countries, plus historically they've been ahead the rest of us with gay rights and feminist politics. Finland may produce better music at the moment, but overall it's gotta be Sweden.

didn't intend to but i think i listed them in order or preference

norway seems probably the most anglo-influenced country that isn't a former english colony?

denmark was good to the jews

I voted sweden tho

the finnish-soviet war is so fascinating and horrible

i have a book on that called A Frozen Hell which I can recommend if you like military history (lots of saunas did the Finns a world of good)

http://www.amazon.com/Frozen-Hell-Russo-Finnish-Winter-1939-1940/dp/1565122496

I don't really feel qualified to vote in this poll, but I find it interesting that Denmark gets so little love. Seems like its probably a nice place. Is it just really boring?

norway seems probably the most anglo-influenced country that isn't a former english colony?

Because Norway spent a lot of time trying to colonise bits of Britain?

Danes were pretty good at that too

Supposedly there were Danish-speaking parts of the Western Isles until the 1850s

Finland may produce better music at the moment, but overall it's gotta be Sweden.

I'm interested by you saying this Tuomas, as I had picked up the idea that the other Nordics all hate Sweden.

Supposedly there were Danish-speaking parts of the Western Isles until the 1850s

Eh?

Wouldn't have thought the Danes reached the Western Isles (Norwegians, yes)

I've definitely read that xp. I know the Norwegians owned them for a long time, so I guess the Danish thing is probably the residue of related population movements from around that period.

Could be, always thought Danes --------> England, Norwegians ---------> Scotland + Ireland, simplistic I know

Norwegians had the Scottish islands, but Norway fell under Danish rule for a brief period when they got pwned by an army of Cnuts.

Hardy Cnuts

Voted for Denmark in a rare moment of patriotic fervour. I can understand why people prefer the others, though: they all have relatively unique traits, whereas Denmark is basically just an unremarkable region of Germany.

ILX's tentacles reach everywhere.

except Iceland

I really don't get the love for Sweden! But you know, to each his own

Finland - awesome culture, people, language. Norway - one of my favourite landscapes, climates, anywhere, super-friendly people, fun times, totally the hungover, hardbitten, all-weather, all-terrain underdog to the preening cockatoo that is Sweden

http://www.charlieandpeggy.com/Palm_Cockatoo1.jpg

I was walking through the rain, in Bergen, this biblical rainstorm, through the harbour, and there was nobody around. I passed this statue/mannequin of some kind of salty dog, norsk sea-pirate when all of a sudden his HEAD TURNED and he looked at me with this squinty face like melted wax covered in bristles of reddish beard. It was terrifying! He was a real person, a real pirate-person, standing in Bergen in the rain giving the stink eye to anyone who happened to pass by. That's Norway.

I mean like

http://simplyxmas.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/trollnflag078.jpg

tempting to vote for denmark rather than the land of quisling, vikerness and riise on the grounds that its inhabitants are so self-deprecating that describing it as basically just an unremarkable region of Germany constitutes patriotic fervour

^amdrl, that sounds like every day in Bergen! Actually it's hot _right_ now.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

hi abcsfk! Norway!!

I didn't know we had Norwegians on ILX. I'm really honored to be in your presence. Uhhh...Hygellig a treffe deg

Geir surpasses mere nationality

Hongro is its own country

So what have we learned, what have we proved?

Can we do "countries in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" next or is that too controversial?

Good poll. ILX has LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (<--Swedish related ref!)

On Finland - it would have beeen an interesting winner, given its non-Nordic language.

http://team.forsvarsmakten.se/english/

poor Denmark

norway >>>>>>> the rest

Is there a "Nordic Noir" thread for discussion of the various Wallander films, Arnaldur Indridason novels etc?

Disgusted at the result of this poll, tbh.

Sweden has all the best bands. But I want very badly to visit all of these some day.

Some discussion of Wallander on the Police Procedurals thread, I think.

http://i.imgur.com/6tQRweY.jpg

Since this poll have been to Copenhagen. Pretty ladies, bars you can smoke in (I don't smoke but iqet

... lol I was going to post more but my phone disagreed with me, so I'll leave it at that... it is like Germany though.