Dane's are happiest people in the world because of hygge

[packman]

Danes have a stable government, low levels of public corruption, and access to high-quality education and health care. The country does have the the highest taxes in the world, but the vast majority of Danes happily pay: They believe higher taxes can create a better society.

Perhaps most importantly, however, they value a cultural construct called “hygge” (pronounced hʊɡə .

The Oxford dictionary added the word in June 2017, and it refers to high-quality social interactions. Hygge can be used as a noun, adjective or verb (to hygge oneself), and events and places can also be hyggelige (hygge-like).

Hygge is sometimes translated as “cozy,” but a better definition of hygge is “intentional intimacy,” which can happen when you have safe, balanced and harmonious shared experiences. A cup of coffee with a friend in front of a fireplace might qualify, as could a summer picnic in the park.

A family might have a hygge evening that entails board games and treats, or friends might get together for a casual dinner with dimmed lighting, good food and easygoing fun. Spaces can also be described as hyggelige (“Your new house is so hyggeligt”) and a common way of telling a host thank you after a dinner is to say that it was hyggeligt (meaning, we had a good time). Most Danish social events are expected to be hyggelige...

At its core, hygge is about building intimacy and trust with others.

https://theconversation.com/why-denmark-dominates-the-world-happiness-report-rankings-year-after-year-93542

[Aristus]

1. It's too civilized to ever catch on here...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That's part of the Scandinavian ethos.

The Norwegian men's ski team had a thing like that going.

In an era in which every world-class athlete seems fixated on personal brand-building and competing for the most Facebook likes and Twitter followers, the Norwegians embrace an altogether different approach to success. It is a contrarian mix of humility, egalitarianism and basic respect — plus sharing an absurd amount of meals over the course of a schedule that has them spending roughly 250 days together every year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/sports/olympics/norway-skiing-olympics.html

Maybe living in a cold, gloomy climate where it's dark all winter compels that sort of behavior. I sure wish we could see more of it here. "Hyggelig" has become a kind of fashionable concept in the U.S. but it isn't part of our culture. We'd rather show off and one-up each other, unfortunately.

[Girard442]

3. I think each Danish pastry comes with a little bit of hygge.

Maybe that's just me.

[KitSileya]

4. The irony? In Scandinavian languages those pastries are wienerbrd,

or Viennese bread....

[Girard442]

5. Interesting. TY.

[octoberlib]

6. I imagine it's because they're well-regulated and have an excellent social safety net as well

[BSdetect]

7. Love that GIF.

[octoberlib]

10. Thank you! It's how I get my anger about that POS winning the Presidency out, lol.

[wishstar]

8. For me personally, extreme political differences ended some pleasant friend and family gatherings

I and my family can no longer socialize with a couple of siblings and friends that we always used to get together with at holidays and cookouts and special events because they have become right wing Trumpers determined to inflict their obnoxious views at these gatherings. Thankfully I still have a small close circle of family and friends who agree on and/or don't have to even bring up politics when we spend time together.

[blake2012]

9. Ive been to Denmark in friends homes. I envy their lifestyle

One of my favorite memories was attending the wedding and reception of one of our close friends. Such a great memory.

[Binkie The Clown]

11. Denmark is both vastly smaller than, and vastly more homogeneous that the U.S.

Can you imagine the whole U.S. sharing a single cultural construct of any kind, let alone the construct of “hygge”.

The Danish model works on a small scale, in a small space, with a small amount of cultural diversity, but is not scalable to a country as large and culturally diverse as the U.S.

For example, the "town meeting" model does not work for an entire state, let alone an entire nation. That is because the town meeting is not scalable. A system that works well in a small, culturally uniform country cannot and will not work in a huge, culturally diverse country.

It's a pipe dream, so you can give up on ever having that in the U.S.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Well said

The whole country has a population a bit less than metro Philadelphia. I expect you can find a number of enclaves across the U.S. that are similarly homogeneous, racially, ethnically, and culturally, where the inhabitants manage to find a way to enjoy their lives in that type of isolated existence.

[Yavin4]

30. This is my biggest beef with Bernie Sanders

He refuses to see that racial, gender, ethnic, religious, and other differences are the biggest obstacles that we have to overcome to have a nation like Denmark. Sure, get rid of the banks, health insurance companies, get money out of politics, etc. You still won't be able to get Americans to support single payer, free college, etc. without first getting them to get over their bigotries, hatred of women, etc.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. It is simple sociology 101. nt

[PasadenaTrudy]

32. Scandi countries are very conformist

and are pro-breeder. No thanks!

[YOHABLO]

12. I think they are the happiest because they have free health care, a livable min wage, free education

[northoftheborder]

13. A good book about Denmark:

"A Year of Living Danishly". True story of a British couple, she, the author (would have to look it up) is a researcher and writer, husband an engineer who received a year's internship with Lego. Entertaining, funny, interesting experience learning to live in such a different culture. Made me want to live there (except for the winters!)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. I just downloaded that book from my library.

Thanks for telling us about it.

[northoftheborder]

33. Another little book defining "Hygge"

The Little Book of Hygge
Danish Secrets to Happy Living
By: Meik Wiking

I can't print phonetically exactly how this word is pronounced. Listening to it on Audible, it is sort of "hewguh" but shorten the uh to barely a syllable.

[SpankMe]

14. I still can't pronounce it.

What does hʊɡə sound like? What's a ʊ? Can anyone describe this without linguists symbols?

[volstork]

16. From Forvo (an awesome website):

https://forvo.com/word/hygge/#da

[DFW]

19. It's difficult to explain in written langauge

Danish, like Dutch, has a gutteral "g" or else you could approximate it by saying "HIGG-eh." But the "y" is closer to a French u, if you don't know how the "y" is pronounced in German or Swedish.

The three Scandinavian languages are so close, that Swedes, Norwegians and Danes can read each other's newspapers without difficulty. A Norwegian newspaper once wrote up my sister and her husband, and I was able to translate 95% of it for them, although I really only speak Swedish, and not the other two. Danish has an pronunciation very different from the other two, and understanding it takes a LOT of getting used to. Of course, when I said that to a Dane, he told me, "nonsense, we have three year old children all over the place who can pronounce Danish perfectly." Meget godt, but I haven't been there for a while, so I'm too old.

And it's "Danes," fer Pete's sake, not "Dane's." Plurals are only written with an apostrophe in Republicanese, not English.

[progressoid]

15. Yeah, but we have the 2nd ammendment.

So there. nya nya nya.

[SammyWinstonJack]

26. We're special.

[Stuart G]

18. How do you pronounce ..this word....huge...like a very big house or it

pronounced like...hug..........I gave my daughter a great big hug...

which is it??? I would like to know...thank you..

[Squinch]

29. Almost like the first two syllables of "Huguenot." That's pretty close.

[TomVilmer]

20. Denmark has lost the number one spot to Finland and Norway...

... but since they are our neighbors, it is very much OK - also the more distant Switzerland.

Four different countries have held top spot in the four most recent reports: Denmark, Switzerland,
Norway and now Finland. All the top countries tend to have high values for all six of the key variables that have been found to support well-being: income, healthy life expectancy, social support, freedom, trust and generosity. Among the top countries, differences are small enough that that year-to-year changes in the rankings are to be expected.
http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/

In the top 5 the ranking goes from 7.594 to 7.487 and then the United States at 18 with 6.886 on the way down to Burundi's 2.905 at the bottom. We have a shitty government, which would anyway be called extremely liberal by the USA - but we neeeed a better one, before we will become the happiest people on Earth again.

[SayItLoud]

21. Simple explanation I learned over there

American's live to work

Europeans work to live

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. Like Americans have a choice. Not exactly.

[Kurt V.]

22. I just started watching Borgen.

I'm 6 years behind, lol, but it's great!

[Squinch]

27. Great series! Don't miss the Bridge - the original.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

24. I have a modified headline...

DEMs are the happiest people in the world because we have mental hygiene!

......... ..............

PS: I do love Danish breads and pastries!
.

[Javaman]

25. had an opportunity to work with a Danish company some years ago...

some of the nicest people I have ever met.

I will never forget what one of them once said to me (this was after a shoot and many of us were drunk with loose lips),"you have THE most beautiful country I have ever seen and some of the nicest people on earth, but please tell me, why are the majority of the people in your country so fucking stupid?"

I just shook my head, laughed and rose a beer and said, "freedom, my friend, freedom to be stupid".

[pansypoo53219]

34. i was in denmark in 98 + april 2003. just after the start of iWaq.

yes. very happy. i did not hear any sirens. streets in great shape. CLEAN. no trash. even cobble repair. they vacuum cobbles. even the drug dealer in a park was pleasant. sigh. he did not offer me any.
but CNN said finland is the happiest now.