I could get into this hygge thing. The Danes have had a good idea or two.
Enter hygge (pronounced “hoo-ga”). It’s a Danish word without a precise analog, but loosely translated as cozy contentment. It’s an important part of the Danish world view — people talk about how hyggeligt it will be to get together, and how hyggelig that get-together was.
Sounds nice. I’m thinking that a nice curl-up with a good book would make for a nice break. But…
Appropriate to Denmark’s climate (and our winter), hygge is about hunkering down: It’s all candles, blazing fires, warm blankets and fuzzy slippers, reading nooks (called hyggekrog), comfortable pants (hyggebukser), wollen socks (hyggesokker) and tea.
I’m getting a bit hoogaed out just reading about it. I’ve got a hyggekrog and some nice hyggebukser and hyggesokker, and I was going to get a cup of hot tea, but this is getting to be a bit much. Also, a fire isn’t the most efficient way to heat the house, and they say I also have to consciously hygge, and that candlelight is important? Nah, I prefer the pleasant glow of a flat screen.
I am getting really tired of the hype about hygge. It is just being cozy and enjoying the company of friends/family.
Sounds good to me, especially as it hasn’t stopped snowing for days, and it’s bloody freezing outside. I’ll go with candlelight, too. I loves me some candlelight, and really love it when it’s diffusing a lovely orange/vanilla/benzoin scent. Definitely hygge.
And it’s pronounced just the way it’s spelt: /hy.gə/, not /hu:.gɐ/ (front, not back – a rounded /i/).
Imagine a Frenchman who can aspirate: Hugue.
A fireplace with an open flame isn’t really meant to heat the house, it’s for crowding around in front of and either staring into it quietly, sharing stories or listening to somebody reading from a book. It warms us.
Once I’m feeling well enough to lug around a pile of lumber, I’m going to be building a hyggekrog in my new lair.
Does ‘lair’ sound too ominous? A den, then. Den of liars, den of thieves, den of iniquity. Not a den, then. Nor is it a hive, for we are one. Don’t remind us. Perhaps nest is better. No? No vipers, no harpies. Even though we put out a spread. Not that I mind. *sniffle* That’s just a cold. I’ve got it! It’s a hole in the ground, but a pleasant one, so it’s a burrow (I’m much too tall to be a hobbit, though I do have hair on my feet).
I’m going to put hyggekrog in my hygge-hole. Burrow. Not to be confused with a burro. Shouldn’t a burrito be a little donkey? Nevermind. That’s another topic for another time. But there was something else, something relevant…
Right! Candles! I love candlelight, but I’m not a fan of open flames (or heat), so I use LED candles instead. They don’t cost much more than wax candles, and the light from a good one is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Some are even remote-controlled, though I’d not necessarily recommend that type around a TV or stereo, unless you want your candles flickering on and off every time you hit the mute button.
Saganite:
Growing up in a house without central heating, things our living room fireplace was for included:
1. Toasting bread or crumpets.
2. Roasting chestnuts (yum!).
3. Keeping the cats warm. They always parked themselves in front of the fire in cold weather.
Dane checking in here. I’m all about the hygge, but happily substitute live fires for chocolate. Its subjective.
On a separate note, I’m convinced that its a testament to the danish sense of humor that someone convinced a journalist that the pronunciation “hoo-ga” is anywhere near correct.
Well we Czechs have nontranslatable relax words of “pohodáři” (people who are… chill?) and “pohoda” (nothing much doing?), as well as “zevling” (an olympic sport consisting of just sitting/lying anywhere doing nothing with aggressive determination). And then there’s a more old-timey version “pecivál” which consist of being a youth, sleeping on the stove and eating all day.
Candles are expensive and inefficient. Well-constructed central communal stoves are much more efficient (albeit polutant-producing).
=8)-DX
Rasmus @7: I have it on good (well, apparently Norwegian) authority that Danes aren’t that great at Danish pronunciation or comprehension ;-)
Candles are necessary. My nearest supplier of decent candles is a five hour drive away and doesn’t bat an eyelid at my buying a thousand at a time. Wood burning in a glass fronted stove (really needed for heating). Quiet, unless it’s the noise of the wind. Aurora are a bonus (yes, we do see aurora here). What is missing? You can’t have real hygge without spaniels.
Here in England we don’t really go in for that sort of touchy-feely continental business.
Instead we have this thing called “spite”. It involves sitting on your own in a cold room and fuming quietly about how awful everyone else is. We have special spite nooks (post offices and the waiting rooms at train stations), spite socks (plain black, because anything else is just showing off), spite trousers (likewise), and as it’s England tea is pretty much mandatory. Candles would only spoil the effect you’re going for, unless the focus of the evening’s spite is the electric company and how terrible they are at re-connecting you after a power cut.
I think it’s much more your style, PZ…
@=8)-DX #8:
So, just a teenager then.
@cartomancer #11:
This is why I never buy stamps except from a machine and also spend my stationary travelling time on the platform enjoying the full range of wonderful English weather (which you’ll understand if you’ve ever had to change trains at Derby in winter).
So if I purchase a plush toy from the Alien franchise, could I call it a hyggehugger?
A lot of languages have words that mean something similar to hygge, and everyone claims they can’t be translated. That’s silly.
The German word for hyggeligt is gemütlich, for what it’s worth. And in spite of the German penchant for stringing words together to make new words, we don’t seem to have the equivalent of hyggebukser or hyggesokker. We do have a drinking song that’s entitled “Ein Hoch auf die Gemütlichkeit.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSyGulPdRsM
Moggie @ #6
The fireplace in our house has the same function as your # 3. My recliner is next to the hearth, and when the fireplace is going, there are usually two or three cats draped over the edge of my chair.
I’m terribly allergic to burning wood, so we have a gas-powered fireplace. It warms the family room nicely on a cold evening.
But have they found the Hygge Boson?
Wool gives me a rash, tea makes me nauseous, fireplaces are a pain in the ass, candles are deathtraps, but give me a reading nook, a blanket and a glass of rye (or any local spirit) and I can handle any weather.
Just don’t let any cats in.
We don’t really have those in Danish neither. Yes, you can create the words, but I have never heard them used. Hyggekrog, on the other hand, is a regularly word, though I haven’t heard it for years.
@9 Rob .. probably true, but one thing is certain: Kamelåså means “I’m a silly norwegian .. kick me” ;)
@14 Helge .. I agree the word is not unique and untranslatable. I think one point is that its so ubiquitously used in Denmark that it encapsulates an attitude which is hard to express in other languages. “It was hyggeligt getting together this afternoon” expresses a closeness and comfort at having hung out with a person which is not really captured by the direct translation of “it was nice …” or “it was cozy …”. I’m only fluent in Danish and English, though, so I could be wrong.
@18 Kristjan .. I’m wearing my hyggebukser right now .. I usually take off my regular pants and put on hyggebukser the second I come home from work. And yes, thats what I call them.
The flip side of the sort of culture described by “hygge” is a strong sense of us vs. them, where “us” is people who think like us and look like us and live like us and talk like us and worship like us. People who aren’t like “us” are a threat to who “us” is and to be kept at arm’s length. You see it all over Europe and it frequently breaks out into more obvious forms of xenophobia.
Yes, we have that here in the USA, too, but we also have a strong tradition that “who we are” is a mix of colors, national origins and cultures, religions, and languages. And things are a lot looser in the USA. One reason I moved back from Europe was that I knew I wanted a family and I could not see raising children in a place where children who don’t “fit” or keep in step with the way everyone has to be end up being roadkill. The USA may not be as “hygge”, but at least there’s room for a non-theistically religious, semi-intellectual, non-passing non-binary translesbian demisexual woman like me to live and work and be on friendly terms with my neighbors with nobody batting an eye.
Helge @14:
I know it as “Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit.” I learned it that way when I lived in Munich.
Similar to the Dutch Gezellig/Gezelligheid, then. Here in the wilds of Tasmania, there are definite upsides to focusing on that sort of concept during the winter months; we call it making a virtue of necessity.
So it is cabin fever with hot Chocolate and thick wool socks ?.
PZ take no notice of cartomancer @11 ,everything is just tickety boo over here in GB ,we have got Britex and the threat of a second attempt by Scotland to leave our happy family ,and beer ,lots and lots of beer.