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<p>I wouldn’t place too much stock in inter-ethnic stereotyping among the various Nordic peoples, especially in a “humorous” or joking context. That game goes both ways. It’s well documented that the Swedes are the butt of a large fraction of jokes in Norway, while Norwegians are the butt of a large fraction of jokes in Sweden. For their part, the Danes make all other Nordic groups the butt of their jokes—indicating, as one interesting academic study of the matter put it, that “the Danes seem to have the greatest need for telling ethnic jokes and thus attributing particular unwanted traits to the other groups.” This is basically just a way of creating in-group solidarity by establishing, through humor, a shared sense of superiority over the foreign “other,” exaggerating perceived cultural differences. Some cultures do a lot of this, others less so. The Danes like to think of themselves (and perhaps are particularly anxious to maintain a self-image) as more fun-loving, sophisticated, and Continental than their stereotypically “brooding” and (to the Danes) uncouth and rustic northern neighbors. The Danes, after all, are undeniably Scandinavian, but they don’t like to think of themselves as fitting the standard Scandinavian stereotypes. So they make jokes to reinforce those perceived differences—which, like ethnic jokes in general, always turn out to be flattering to themselves by ridiculing their ethnic rivals. Most of the Danes’ humor is targeted at Swedes and Norwegians, but some also at the Finns. I just wouldn’t take any of it too seriously as a guide to what life is really like in the country being so ridiculed.</p>