Today’s post will make you think I have a childish sense of humour (if you’re British), or that I have an indepth knowledge of Danish sweets (rest of the world). Here goes! Have you seen Danish spunk?
It comes in small, cellophane wrapped packets. Available as wine gums or [blech!] salty liquorice flavour. You will remember that liquorice is my arch enemy! 😉 Lakrids. The (Danish) root of all evil.
Now, to me, spunk is something other than wine gums [yes, yes, childish sense of humour]. But moving swiftly on…what does spunk mean to the Danes? Well, spunk is a word invented by Pippi Longstocking – the Swedish girl with the red-stick-up-in-the-air-braided-hair who can lift a horse, has a pet monkey, etc. One day she makes up a brand new word and, when her friends Tommy and Annika ask her what it means, she says “If only I knew! But it doesn’t mean vacuum cleaner!” 😛 So off they go into town, asking the baker, ironmonger, doctor and even two genteel old ladies if they have a spunk or have seen a spunk… In 1971 Galle & Jessen (Danish sweetie makers) needed a name for their new sweet, found inspiration in the old Pippi Longstocking book, and – lo and behold – Spunk sweets were born! If you want to read the book for yourself, it’s “Pippi Langstrømpe i Sydhavet” (Pippi in the South Seas).
But, hey, if you open up the Spunk packets and take a closer look, there’s more. Road safety instruction!
I love this one. “Nr. 27 Er du sikker på, at du kan ses, er du mere sikker.” (Number 27: If you’re certain that you can be seen, then you’ll certainly be seen.)
But back to the childish humour. And a pub located behind Copenhagen’s central station. “A pint of your best, please, landlord!”
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Diane 🙂