:)

Ocean Blue - Jeanne Rosier Smith , 2020.

American , b. 1966 -

The sign says: “Jag är en liten TÖSAPÅG från SKÅNE”. In order to translate this from Swedish to English, some explanation is needed (and there might even be some Swedish speakers who need the explanation).

I live in the southernmost province of Sweden, known as Scania, or, in Swedish, Skåne. One important part of Scanian culture is our distinctive dialect, which contains many words different from standard Swedish (many of them related to Danish words, since Scania borders on Denmark). This includes the words “tös”, which means “girl”, and “påg”, which means “boy”. The word “tösapåg” literally means “girl-boy”, and is a somewhat old-fashioned, generally derogatory term for boys acting femininely. There is also the opposite word “pågatös”, “boy-girl”, which basically means the same as “tomboy”.

So, the words on the sign would translate literally into “I am a little girl-boy from Scania”. As a person who sees myself as somewhat genderfluid and possibly trans, this is, in part, my attempt to reclaim the word “tösapåg”, mostly just because I think it’s a funny word to say.

However, there’s an additional layer to how I chose to word the sign: It’s a reference to the old song “Lite grann från ovan” (“A little bit from above”), famously performed Edvard Persson, and absolute icon of Scanian culture.

The first line of the song is: “Jag är en liten gåsapåg från Skåne”, which would translate to “I am a little goose-boy from Scania”. The whole song is a reference to the famous Swedish novel “Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey across Sweden” by Selma Lagerlöf, which is about a Scanian boy who is shrunk down and rides on the back of a goose.

So, I basically just switched the word “gåsapåg” to “tösapåg” in the lyrics to a beloved Scanian song.

I’m happy to report that the sign went over well during the Pride parade: I saw several people laughing when they saw it, two people asked me if they could photograph it, and I received praise from different people, including a high-five and someone saying that it was “the best sign at the parade”. I even briefly showed up in a local TV news report from the parade.