I went to the local Pride celebration and parade yesterday, and they had a booth where you could make your own sign for the parade. So I took the opportunity to create a sign that Iâve been thinking about for a while now:
The sign says: âJag Ă€r en liten TĂSAPĂ G frĂ„n SKĂ NEâ. 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, SkĂ„ne. 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 âtösâ, which means âgirlâ, and âpĂ„gâ, which means âboyâ. The word âtösapĂ„gâ literally means âgirl-boyâ, and is a somewhat old-fashioned, generally derogatory term for boys acting femininely. There is also the opposite word âpĂ„gatösâ, âboy-girlâ, which basically means the same as âtomboyâ.
So, the words on the sign would translate literally into âI am a little girl-boy from Scaniaâ. As a person who sees myself as somewhat genderfluid and possibly trans, this is, in part, my attempt to reclaim the word âtösapĂ„gâ, mostly just because I think itâs a funny word to say.
However, thereâs an additional layer to how I chose to word the sign: Itâs a reference to the old song âLite grann frĂ„n ovanâ (âA little bit from aboveâ), famously performed Edvard Persson, and absolute icon of Scanian culture.
The first line of the song is: âJag Ă€r en liten gĂ„sapĂ„g frĂ„n SkĂ„neâ, which would translate to âI am a little goose-boy from Scaniaâ. The whole song is a reference to the famous Swedish novel âNils Holgersson's wonderful journey across Swedenâ 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 âgĂ„sapĂ„gâ to âtösapĂ„gâ in the lyrics to a beloved Scanian song.
Iâm 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 âthe best sign at the paradeâ. I even briefly showed up in a local TV news report from the parade.
All in all, Iâm a happy tösapĂ„g!
