Comments on: Viking vexation http://blog.japundit.com/archives/2008/12/05/9137/ Japan... A whole lot more than raw fish Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:26:11 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Beth Meyer http://blog.japundit.com/archives/2008/12/05/9137/comment-page-1/#comment-499802 Beth Meyer Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:54:59 +0000 http://blog.japundit.com/?p=9137#comment-499802 Hi, there! (Please, just Beth is fine.) To elaborate a little, I thought the story about the "The Vikings" movie kinda resonated, though it might not be true. But it seems plausible, given the origin of the term "spam" for unwanted commercial e-mail (a Monty Python skit well-known to the early adopters of e-mail). And it seemed a little unlikely that modern Japanese folk would choose the word "viking" just for the association with Sweden. First of all, I associate vikings with Norway, not so much Sweden. Second, if I were coming up with random concepts I associate with Sweden (because my new restaurant is like a Swedish smorgasbord), there are a whole lot of things that would be ahead of ancient seafaring warriors on the list - meatballs, clogs, ABBA, socialized medicine, blondes, winter sports, etc. Incidentally, you might actually catch a glimpse of the feast scene in question in the movie's trailer, available <a href="http://www.videodetective.com/movies/THE_VIKINGS/trailer/P00393566.htm" rel="nofollow">here.</a> However, presumably the Japanese buffet dinners have *not* featured dipping beer from vats with a horn and making out on the tabletops. :-) (That trailer is a hoot, BTW. The late 50's were another world...) Hi, there! (Please, just Beth is fine.) To elaborate a little, I thought the story about the “The Vikings” movie kinda resonated, though it might not be true. But it seems plausible, given the origin of the term “spam” for unwanted commercial e-mail (a Monty Python skit well-known to the early adopters of e-mail).

And it seemed a little unlikely that modern Japanese folk would choose the word “viking” just for the association with Sweden. First of all, I associate vikings with Norway, not so much Sweden. Second, if I were coming up with random concepts I associate with Sweden (because my new restaurant is like a Swedish smorgasbord), there are a whole lot of things that would be ahead of ancient seafaring warriors on the list – meatballs, clogs, ABBA, socialized medicine, blondes, winter sports, etc.

Incidentally, you might actually catch a glimpse of the feast scene in question in the movie’s trailer, available here. However, presumably the Japanese buffet dinners have *not* featured dipping beer from vats with a horn and making out on the tabletops. :-)

(That trailer is a hoot, BTW. The late 50’s were another world…)

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