The Finnish word kalsarikännit means "that feeling when you are going to get drunk at home, alone, in your underwear — with no intention of going out" (I am given to understand)
Nordics (in particular the Finns) are renown for their heavy drinking to the extent that their disapproving states try to price them out of the habit. They don't care and get pissed anyway, which I find endearing, and real in a nice way. More details: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/style/pants-drunk-time.ht...
It’s endearing from an external perspective because of how the narrative sounds to outsiders (“the government is protecting the citizens from themselves”). The inside truth is much less romantic: Nordic governments are authoritative and jump at any opportunity to tax the hell out of their citizens. Nordics don’t drink even remotely as much as for example Germans and I don’t see Germany in trouble for that. They get away with it because Nordic people live in a golden cage and as long as you conform and lower your head, everything kind of moves forward comfortably.
What’s this about? Do Scandinavians have a reputation of being fake or something?