I realised today glasses from IKEA are a little bit like socks and underwear. You start out with many, but one by one they disappear, until eventually you have to go out and buy more. So today I went on a “glasses and Swedish food” trip to IKEA at Rhodes in Sydney. My purchasing goal was half a dozen new tumblers and half a dozen new white wine glasses. I also had a secondary goal of picking up some lovely Swedish jams and some of Sweden’s culinary equivalent to Vegemite, Kalles Kaviar. Even though they’re totally disimilar – one is a yeast exctract, the other is salmon roe, they’re both very salty, and most foreigners make the mistake of spreading too much on.
On my way out of the checkouts I looked up and saw a sign for “päskägg” which the English language sign told me was a “paper egg surprise”.”They’re Easter Eggs”, I thought to myself, “except they’ve spelled it wrong. It should be “påskägg” not “päskägg”. The two words (if one existed) would have a very different pronunciation. So I came home and looked up the word “päsk” in my Swedish dictionary. No sign of it. Then I looked it up online, and the only translation I could find for päsk was that it was a Sami word for reindeer skin. So I went online and posed the question about whether or not such a thing existed.
The conclusion from a Swedish guy I correspond with on Google+ was this. They have most likely just misspelled the word “påsk”.
A bit like Engrish, but what would be correct here, Swedlish? :) Anyway, these eggs are so called påskägg and would translate into easter eggs. They are designed to be filled with treats and given away or hidden by the adults to be found by the kids. They are commonly made of cardboard or some similar pulp substance, but it is also fairly common to find plastic ones. Is this not a tradition in Australia? Although the timing for sale in this case is way, way off. :)
So there you have it. As I thought. They’re selling Easter Eggs (boxes) at IKEA in Sydney with a slightly incorrect spelling and with the translation, they’re a “paper egg surprise”. Left over from this year’s easter in Sweden, or six months ahead for the next one? That, I guess, is the surprise.
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