Dansk humor: a matter of mastery

If I had to say what it is the most difficult thing of living in Denmark as a foreigner coming from Spain, I would say the humor. Oh, yeah, it is easy everyone can make some fun using irony but it’s not the kind of irony Alanis Morissette sang about. Believe or not, you’ll never find such a way of twisting words and meanings as here.

Poster in Nørrebro (Copenhagen). Picture taken from pernille.typad.com

Is it bad? No, it’s other way of interacting. I must confess that sometimes is hard to realize if Danes are just trying to be nice or they are simply rude. It’s like a play-role. One takes the role of the joker and you, as foreigner, play the role of the stupid who doesn’t understand.

In the south we are more direct. Of course we use sarcasm but we are amateurs in front of that levels achieved by centuries of practice. My advice is, if you come to Denmark, to be yourself and try to fit in little by little.

I remember one night when a group of Spaniards we were having dinner with a Dane. In some moment he yelled “Arriba España” (Up Spain or long live Spain). It had been nice if we wouldn’t have these problems of identifying national pride with fascism in Spain. All of us stared at him in shock expecting that such a sign of inappropriate free expression was caused by his lack of awareness. The thing is that the Dane he did know about that and he made it on purpose. Days after, when we were informed about that, we yelled “what kind of humor is that? It’s not funny if you don’t share it”. Well, maybe it’s the Danish humor way.

Anyway, I think I’d like to know all the tips and keys behind this way of making fun and impress people around the world with such a humor. In the meantime I’m just trying to learn the grassroots in order to mingle with more Danish people. And, for sure, it’s not like to put foreigners on the line and make them to say rødgrød med fløde, the national tongue-twister.

The rotten apple in Denmark

One of the premises on which Danish society is based is freedom. It is the grassroots of the system. Freedom doesn’t mean to do whatever you want, but to be able of doing whatever you want. In order to fit in it is important to follow this principle.

Recently I was chatting in the kitchen of my dormitory with some pals, all of them foreigners as me, about how we perceive Danish people and Denmark in general. We reached different opinions. And I remember I explained and important concept in all the Nordic culture to my mates in order to show them my point of view. Janteloven or the Law of Jante, a non-written law very present in the northern countries minds.

In general terms, it can be said that the Law of Jante is the biggest example of why Nordic culture is based on community behavior against individualism. Living in a country does not only mean to reside in a place of earth delimited by borders, but also to be part of the society. Here are the ten principles of Janteloven.

-          You're not to think you are anything special.

-          You're not to think you are as good as us.

-          You're not to think you are smarter than us.

-          You're not to convince yourself that you are better than us.

-          You're not to think you know more than us.

-          You're not to think you are more important than us.

-          You're not to think you are good at anything.

-          You're not to laugh at us.

-          You're not to think anyone cares about you.

-          You're not to think you can teach us anything

Basically it says, move your ass from individualism and rich yourself and do something for the community. But… Here is the problem. Denmark is a multicultural country where diversity is one its biggest appeals.  So, it is difficult to understand for the most of us who come here.

One would be observed as a newbie in the city. Because it’s not about only individualism, also about being different. It’s not a coincidence the fact that the big majority of Danish young students look alike. Same haircuts, brands, colors, expressions. Sometimes being different means being out of the loop.

Be quiet, dress as they do, behave as they do, drink as they do, say what they say, never critic their system, don’t do anything that can piss them off and try to learn Danish. Then, you’ll be, not a Dane, but a foreigner completely integrated. Otherwise you’ll be the rotten apple which spoils the whole country.