Tuesday, April 3, 2012

C ~ cottage = stuga



google image


Welcome back students! You're doing a wonderful job so far in your Swedish lessons! Today's word is stuga which means cottage. It's pronounced like “stew + gah”. When we lived in Sweden, it seemed to me that everyone of my Grandparent's friends had a summer cottage. Bonus Swedish word: summer is sommar! Pronounced “sum + ar” (ar as in argument.) I asked The Swede about this. He said that I was mostly correct. Many Swedish citizens never live in a house, they have an apartment their whole life, and therefore love to have someplace with more outdoor space to visit frequently. These stugor (that's plural, pronounced “stew + gore”) are often on the water, with all the lakes and the coast so easily accessible to most. 

They are passed down through the generations, and have varying levels of modern conveniences. Some are like a hotel room. Some are like sleeping in a tent. Some are right in between, very cozy, indoor plumbing, and a separate bedroom.  Some of my fondest memories of childhood are when I had the privilege of visiting many of these stugor with my grandparents.   Most of them have a name.  I really like that tradition a lot.  My favorite one was a converted former boat house.  It was literally on the lake shore.  I got to spend a week there at age 16 with my 15 year-old cousin.  The stuga had no plumbing at all, but we had no problem bathing or brushing our teeth in the lake water, right there outside our door.


49 comments:

Kate said...

C=cool...I love the background photo to your blog!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Excellent to read and I really loved the photo.

Yvonne.

Jessica L. Celaya said...

That's so cool. It's fun learning new words, even in a different language. It'd be nice to have a cottage or stuga to get away in.

Laurita said...

A cool photo, a new word (plus bonus word), and a memory all in one post. This is how you do A to Z.

Heather Murphy said...

These remind me of modern day "snow birds" who flock down here to Florida in the winter, although they look more quaint. Cute :)

Marta Szemik said...

I'd like a stuga as well. What a great childhood memory!

Sarah Mäkelä said...

Wow! I'm loving the Swedish lessons. My husband (who is Finnish) and I have been through Sweden when we went to Norway once. I'll definitely be back. :-)

Unknown said...

This is such a great idea for a theme... perhaps next year I can do Norwegian.. >:- ) Norwegians live the same way... but they are called hytte.. We are close to the beach, so our neighborhood is surrounded by them ..

Marcie said...

Awesome! I am learning Swedish and love everything Swedish :) i always envy people who are bilingual, what a head start they have!

Dani said...

My parents have a stuga and now I'm happy I can teach them this great word! Thanks! - And I love the bonus!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

How interesting! Thanks for the lesson. :D

Tracy Jo said...

Came back for my daily lesson. Look out world...end of April...I will be talking Swedish. :-)

Annalisa Crawford said...

That's such a sweet stuga in the picture. Hope I pronounced it right :-)

DonnaGalanti said...

What a sweet photo..and vision to have a cottage to go to by a lake. Peace and serenity and quiet. I hope you get to your cottage again soon! Nice to be in the challenge with you!

Cheryl said...

I love your theme. When I think of cottages, I think of those English ones buried in flowers.

DayDreamer said...

Your holiday at sixteen sounds idyllic, how great to wash in a lake.

Gossip_Grl said...

The stuga looks cozy and quaint and a nice break away from the fast paced life.:)Thanks for sharing I am hooked these daily words :)

M.J. Fifield said...

I love all these A to Z blogs teaching me new languages. I'll probably never remember most of it but it's a lot of fun.


M.J. Fifield
My Pet Blog

Lynn Proctor said...

sounds divine!!

Brian Miller said...

that is pretty cool and it would be fun to have a place like that to get away to...esp if you were apartment bound...i remember those days...smiles

KC Weldon said...

So do the adjectives go first or last? Like if I wanted to say summer cottage would it be stuga sommar or sommar stuga?

loverofwords said...

Now I know I was Swedish in another life! Stuga, I can actually say it and the photo is charming, a little like Russian Dachas, but more so.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I was just going to ask if you'd ever stayed in one.

H said...

Wonderful to have a stuga to which one can escape. I like this Swedish tradition!

Unknown said...

These lessons are great - I'm going to surprise my Swedish friend in a couple of weeks when I see her. I'll ask if she's been to her stugor in her bil. LOL. I remember seeing these houses when I visited Sweden. Some are quite luxurious even if a little rustic.

Tracy said...

Great 'C' word...I prefer a 'cottage' on the 'coast' :)

Unknown said...

What a neat idea - I love to learn and learning new languages,especially one that my father laid claim to though I never explored, what a bonus. I enjoyed reading your blog and will continue to. You ARE a writer!
Billie

L said...

That sounds wonderful! i dont think i would be able to bath and brush my teeth in the lake water though. (But that's just me)
~so you want to be a writer? I have a quick critic of your writing to help you out(i love editing) In your second paragraph, you used the word "Some" a lot. I recomend using a varity of words. yes i know. this is just a post, but just trying to help out. (dont take this offensively)

Heather M. Gardner said...

Sounds like a wonderful tradition to pass down.
What a great experience.
Heather

michelle said...

I love the "sound" of the word stuga... it has an aural appeal!

MAJK said...

I shall park my bil outside of my stuga :)

This is fun!

*~MAJK~*
Safireblade.com
A to Z Challenge

Amanda Lee said...

Yes! I am finally able to comment on your blog! Love your alphabet theme. I will have to send Q over, as he has been taking Swedish at the Swedish Community Center. He says he thought he might meet some hot Swedish chicks, but it turned out to be lots of middle-aged women like his mom :) He is having fun, though, and digging all the history behind the words.

ediFanoB said...

In sommar I use my bil to go to my stuga.

I'm sure at the end of April we can deliver our first Swedish sentence.

I appreciate your pronounciation explanation.

Lori said...

Great theme! I love learning new things:)

Arlee Bird said...

These days I like my indoor plumbing. When I was younger I could deal better with roughing it. I've grown soft.


Lee
Places I Remember
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog

Michelle Mach said...

Lovely post! I think I need a stuga of my very own. It would be such a wonderful place to write and dream!

Anonymous said...

Checking in from Team Tina.

Does a stuga come with a garage in which to park your bil?

Judy

Haddock said...

I learned a few things today :-)
(but the google images are not clear...something like out of focus)

Donna B. McNicol said...

I am looking forward to my "stuga" in the woods. ;-)

Leslie S. Rose said...

Cottages are so romantic. I'm a fellow A to Z-er.

Unknown said...

Thank yo so much for taking me to Sweden. I have always wanted to visit and now more so. What an awesome tradition... one always takes it for granted that everyone lives as they do. Thanks for the Swedish lessons as well!! Great theme for your A to Z... visiting from A to Z http://takingbackmylifemakingitmyown.blogspot.com/

Saturday Sadie said...

These Swedish lessons are awesome! I'm really enjoying a bit of learnin' mixed in with your wonderful stories. What a cool idea for the A to Z challenge!

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

It looks perfectly relaxing. A nice place to read and knit. I'll take one!

Brendan Carroll said...

Fascinating! I had to put Sweden on my Bucket List. Thanks for sharing and I loved the lesson in pro-nun-ski-ation (as Popeye would say). LOL

Simon Kewin said...

Enjoying learning some Swedish. Your posts are a lot of fun.

Sangita Kalarickal said...

I love Dala Hast (sorry, I cant do accents here!) The painting is so nice, some of them can be real intricate too.
Thank you for your post!

Juli said...

My husband lived in Portugal until he was 10. He never even knew what a house was until he moved to America. Funny, how much we take for granted.

Kittie Howard said...

We have Norwegian friends who have a stuge, only it's that distinct red, like the yellow. How lucky you were to spend a week on a converted boat.

Unknown said...

Vilka vackra sommarminnen. Jag blir tårögd! Behöver en pappersnäsduk...
Kram,
Anna